Penguin Environmental Design

Harmony between a garden and a house

庭屋一如 (tei-oku-ichi-nyo) – This is the word expressing a harmonious condition of a garden and a house. I think that many Japanese garden designers consider it a fundamental principle. Traditionally, houses in Japan were designed to achieve comfort in hot summer. This kind of house is a post and beam structure. So, its’ facades can […]

Our Talk at Shofuso on the Japanese Time-Space Concept & Mindfulness

Our Talk at Shofuso on the Japanese Time-Space Concept & Mindfulness

Takaya Kurimoto and Yoko Kawai of PED had the pleasure to give an online live talk at Shofuso, a Japanese house with a garden, hosted by the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia. Our talk examined how the concept of Michiyuki, traveling or procession in Japanese, could help us be aware of the present moment. […]

The Itsukushima Shrine and the Many Meanings of Hashi

The Itsukushima Shrine and the Many Meanings of Hashi

Hashi in motion A secondary concept of Ma is hashi. Generally, hashi means “edge.” The origin of this pronunciation of hashi comes from the Japanese word hashike, meaning a boat, or a barge. Therefore, saying the word hashi unconsciously carries an image of a boat moving between two borders. In this example, the boundary exists in the […]

Michiyuki and the Katsura Imperial Villa

Michiyuki and the Katsura Imperial Villa

Michiyuki: Traveling and Beyond Being under water blurs the self/space boundary because you are always in motion. Michiyuki, the Japanese spatial concept for “moving self,” means traveling from once place to another. It specifically refers to the space you covered and the time you spent while traveling. But by translating Michiyuki to “traveling,” something is […]

Japanese + Modern

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