Traditional Japanese Sliding Doors

In modern homes the shoji screen doors would usually be behind a parallel set of sliding glass doors.

Traditional japanese sliding doors.

Doors were closed or opened to play with the size of rooms and windows were often designed in the same way. Shōji are very lightweight so they are easily slid aside or taken off their tracks and stored in a closet opening the room to other rooms or the outside. Shoji panels are made of wooden frames with translucent white paper glued to a lattice structure. Traditional shoji are handmade by craftsmen called tategu ya.

Traditional japanese structures use elegant sliding doors that are an important part of the country s culture and history. Where light transmission is not needed the similar but opaque fusuma is used. Interior walls of houses constructed with shoji doors can be removed from their tracks to expand the rooms for parties. Shoji is a style of japanese sliding door.

They typically measure about 90 centimetres 3 0 ft wide by 180cm 5 11 tall the same size as a tatami mat and are two or three centimeters thick. Traditional shoji are handmade by craftsmen called tategu ya. Japanese shoji screens are often seen in traditional tatami or tea rooms in japan. Shoji is a style of japanese sliding door.

Fusuma sliding doors used to separate rooms in traditional japanese houses large spaces are separated for various purposes depending on the time and occasion. Traditional japanese hearth by fg2 public domain interior paper covered sliding doors fusuma were made by pasting paper or even sometimes silk onto a delicate wood lattice frame. Interior walls of houses constructed with shoji doors can be removed from their tracks to expand the rooms for parties. Kin busuma golden fusuma in japanese architecture fusuma 襖 are vertical rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to redefine spaces within a room or act as doors.

Their use in movies such as memoirs of a geisha or the last samurai have made them an instantly recognisable mark of the country. In the bedroom above a wall of sliding shoji screen doors slips into a wall pocket out of sight for an unobstructed view of the japanese garden outside. The original shoji screen and doors were made from rice paper stretched over a framework to produce a lattice effect. At times large rooms are used for parties and at others the room is separated and used as smaller private rooms.

When it comes to sliding doors their most famous use is undoubtedly in japan. They were very versatile often being slid into position as and when required. Not only are they beautiful additions to any home traditional japanese sliding doors also have a rich cultural significance to them.