Eleven iconic Japanese houses seen "through the photographer's lens"

In this roundup, author Ari Seligmann spotlights 11 iconic houses in Japan captured by some of the country’s leading photographers, who are the focus of his latest book, Ka Me Ra.

The featured homes are among the many landmark buildings featured in Ka Me Ra: Modern Japanese Architecture Through the Photographer’s Lens, which author Seligmann has published with Thames & Hudson.

It is a showcase of the work of nine key architecture photographers in Japan, which Seligmann believes are often overlooked in architectural discourse.

These are Yoshio Watanabe, Chuji Hirayama, Akio Kawasumi, Osamu Murai, Yukio Futagawa, Tomio Ohashi, Kiyoshi Takai, Shuji Yamada and Mitsumasa Fujitsuka – a group that he said captures “the emergence of modern architectural photography in the 1920s to contemporary practitioners”.

Ka Me Ra has been 10 years in the making and reflects Seligmann’s desire to explore the development of Japanese architecture through photography.

He hopes it can “increase recognition of the roles and power of photography in shaping how we experience and understand architecture”.

“Having written histories and historiographies of Japanese architecture, I was interested in how the story of the development of Japanese architecture might be told through the photographer’s lens, which is the primary way most people experience and come to understand it,” he told Dezeen.

“In our image and information-rich world, I hope readers will more regularly consider ‘Why that way? From what perspective, intention or ambition? Through which lens am I looking at a deliberate portrayal of architecture?'”

In the book, each photographer’s background is presented alongside a visual essay of their work, offering a historical overview of the development of architectural photography in Japan. In this roundup, Seligmann offers a snapshot with a look at 11 photos of iconic Japanese houses by seven of the featured photographers.

He said it is particularly important to highlight the role of the architectural photographer today as we are living “in an age where we can readily document the built environment” and where “the quality of images of architecture” is increasing.

“For the previous hundred years, or so, covered in this book, image production and dissemination were slower, more deliberate and more controlled,” he explained.

“In conjunction, images of architecture quickly circulate the globe. However, we still need to pay attention to where the images and ideas we consume come from and why things are being portrayed and presented in particular ways,” added Seligmann.

“Probably more people encounter and experience buildings through images than in person. Moreover, in Japan, photographic constructions typically outlive physical constructions with 25 to 30 lifespans. If photos shape how we know architecture, then shouldn’t we know a bit more about them?”

Read on for Seligmann’s picks of 11 iconic Japanese houses featured in Ka Me Ra:

Yoshikawa House by Sutemi Horiguchi (1930), captured by Yoshio Watanabe in 1933

“This is an early example of Watanabe’s collaboration with Horiguchi, introducing modern European variations in Japan through German-inspired photographic framing.

“Watanabe was a long-term collaborator with Horiguchi and Kunio Maekawa, spreading pioneering modern Japanese architecture before and after world war two.”

Silver Hut by Toyo Ito (1984), captured by Tomio Ohashi in 1984

“We understand the majority of Ito’s work through Ohashi’s lenses. Likewise, the work of Kisho Kurokawa, Itsuko Hasegawa, and Riken Yamamoto.

“This interior of Ito’s own iconic house reflects a common strategy in Ohashi’s images, which strove to convey occupation without occupants. This is an approach that was also commonly employed by Osamu Murai.”

Tange House by Kenzo Tange (1953), captured by Chuji Hirayama in 1953

“Hirayama was the lead photographer for the premier national architecture journal Shinkenchiku.

“His photos in the magazine provided the definitive record of post-war architectural developments and were paralleled by Fumio Murasawa’s portrayals in the key rival Kenchiku Bunka magazine.

“This image of Tange’s own house is representative of efforts to blend international modernism with Japanese approaches.”

Moriyama House by Ryue Nishizawa (2005), captured by Mitsumasa Fujitsuka in 2005

“Fujitsuka relished locating architecture in use and in its broader contexts.

“Aerial photography lent itself to conveying urban context and was also regularly used by Osamu Murai and Yukio Futagawa. In this image, the iconic Moriyama House is further distinguished from its surroundings with the field of white boxes floating in a diverse field of Tokyo’s suburban fabric.”

House on a Slope by Masako Hayashi (1956), captured by Chuji Hirayama in 1956

“This interior is representative of Hirayama’s efforts to express the layering of space in Japanese architecture.

“Hirayama regularly documented Tange and Hayashi’s early work, but the majority of their projects were subsequently presented primarily through Osamu Murai’s lens.”

Umbrella House by Kazuo Shinohara (1961), captured by Akio Kawasumi in 1961

“This interior of one of Shinohara’s iconic first style masterpieces is representative of Kawasumi’s penchant for compositional framing and cropping of images.

“Kawasumi was the first architectural photographer who shifted from practising architecture to a professional image maker.”

Azuma House by Tadao Ando (1976), captured by Mitsumasa Fujitsuka in 1978

“This early house catapulted Ando to global recognition.

“Amongst the iconic portrayals of the project is a set of Fujitsuka’s photos documenting the house five years after completion as it was being lived in and in whatever weather conditions happened to occur on the day of the shoot.

“The images were initially part of an eight-year series in Box magazine that was later published as a two-volume set, Urban Housing with Presence in 1987 and 1991, which represent the complex production and circulation of images. This image is also reflective of Fujitsuka’s approaches and critiques of idealised ‘completion photos’ that typify architectural images in professional magazines.”

House Under High-Voltage Lines by Kazuo Shinohara (1981), captured by Tomio Ohashi in 1981

“This exterior of one of Shinohara’s iconic third style masterpieces is representative of Ohashi’s efforts to convey architecture as dynamic environmental conditions rather than a built object.

“The curvature of the roof was calibrated to the power lines running along the edge of the site and Ohashi framed the sun to energise the image.”

House in Higashi-Kurume by Ryoji Suzuki (1985), captured by Mitsumasa Fujitsuka in 1985

“Fujitsuka and Suzuki were long-standing collaborators and this interior is representative of a thread running through Fujitsuka’s images and his efforts to celebrate the construction of architecture as man-made material culture.

“These affinities spurred related ongoing collaborations between Fujitsuka and Kengo Kuma, Mitsuru Senda and Terunobu Fujimori. Among the featured photographers, Fujitsuka is the only one still working as a professional photographer, at 86 years of age.”

Minka in Shirakawa Village (c. 18th century), captured by Chuji Hirayama in 1950

“In addition to modern and contemporary architecture, photographers also contribute to our images and imaginations of historic and vernacular buildings.

“Minka farmhouses were a very common photographic subject matter. Yukio Futagawa, Tomio Ohashi, and Kiyoshi Takai all began their careers with minka photography.

“This image of the steep-roofed Gasho houses in the mountainous snowy region of central Japan is representative of the genre and of Hirayama’s penchant for theatricality and material expression.”

Yoshijima House (1908), captured by Kiyoshi Takai in 1990

“While most of the photographers featured in the volume collaborated with architects and architectural media, Takai had an alternative pathway that reinforces the diversity of approaches to architectural photography.

“He documented Taisei Corporation projects as his primary work and minka as his life work. This interior image of a canonical merchant house represents Takai’s careful framing of light, space and material.”

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