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[H401]History Of Japanese Culture

by Mitch Endick, Mit

To understand why the development of the futon is so important, we must first put Japan in the proper context. Japan is an island country that has a scarcity of available land. Space has always been limited, especially now. Today Japan has a population of approximately one hundred and twenty seven million living in an area slightly smaller than California. To really put things in perspective, California has a population of around thirty four million. So it no wonder that the Japanese have attached such a priority to the efficient use of space.

The traditional Japanese household is quite small by western standards. Where the average American home might measure more than two thousand square feet, the average Japanese home might be only one third the space. Rooms may have multiple uses, a living becomes a bedroom, becomes a dining room.

In addition to limitations on physical living space, Japan has very little arable land for the cultivation of crops. Crops like cotton need a great deal of space per plant. So materials available for the production of fabric are not very abundant and must be used in the most efficient way possible. These limitations have been overcome by the cultural discipline exercised by the Japanese.

Shikibuton is Japanese for a bed that most of us know as the futon. The shikibuton is a thin mattress, usually no more than four or five inches thick. Cotton is the traditional material used the batting or stuffing of the shikibuton. There is no foam or spring material used. The batting gives the mattress a very stiff and solid feel. The traditional use of a shikibuton includes a rug that placed on the floor under the mattress. When not in use, the shikibuton would be rolled up and stored until it needed again. This allowed the sleeping space to be used for other purposes.

It is rare in Japan to find a futon used with any type of bifold or trifold frame. More common might be the use of a simple, raised wooded platform.

The introduction of the futon to the West has been a roaring success. What really made the futon popular in American was the introduction of bifold and trifold frames. The frames add an element of flexibility to Western style to the simple futon mattress. An alternative to the daybed and the sleeper sofa, the combination of a futon mattress and a frame provides both a place to sit and a place to sleep.

The standard sizes for a futon and frame combination is roughly equal to a full sized mattress, about seventy five by eighty inches. Like the shikibuton, the futon can be converted into a place to sit during the day and converted to a bed at night. American made futons have taken the Japanese version a few steps further. Cotton batting, though still common, has been augmented by the addition of various types of foam. Another western innovation is the innerspring futon. Similar to a traditional innerspring mattress, the innerspring futon feels more like a regular mattress. When used as a sitting surface, the innerspring feels more like a couch.

Now many people prefer the feel of a traditional shikibuton, which is very firm. Innovations like springs and foam battings have opened up the futon market to more people. Futon frames have gone from simple metal affairs to very sturdy and attractive wood frames.

A perfect blend of convention, conservatism, modernization and the western thought, the Japanese culture proclaims to be one of the richest cultures of the world being deeply influenced by the cultures of Asia, Europe and North America resulting in the typical “hybrid culture”. Japan, an island country in the North Pacific Ocean is believed to be the “source of the sun” or Nihon by its inhabitants where, the population consists of more than two million individuals, more than three quarters of which live in urban. The Japanese culture consists of characteristic features typical to the cultures of both the East and the West. A rich literary heritage occupies a place of predominance in the Japanese culture. Japanese is an agglutinative language and consists of presence of vast verities of dialects and scripts and is characterized by a distinct pitch system.

Majority of the people are comfortable with the use of the Tokyo dialect and is the standard form of spoken Japanese. Written Japanese is considered to be one the toughest languages of the world and uses Japanese phonetic symbols that represent sound as well as Chinese characters. ”The tale of Genji” of early 1000's is considered as the greatest work of Japanese fiction. The history of Japanese culture is characterized by paintings which acted as an additional tool of the writers. Pictorial representations painted with works of literature added a special effect to the story and gave to the world painting techniques still being followed religiously by modern painters. The periods of 1100's to 1300's and 1300's to mid 1500's were characterized by long picture scrolls and black brush strokes respectively.

The calligraphic art or the “shodo”, popularly known as the “shuji” is the art of writing stories, poems or single characteristics with strokes of a paint brush giving it an artistic effect. The earliest Japanese sculptures were haniwa or clay figures placed in burial mounds of important Japanese. The sculptures mainly used wood, clay and bronze and the bronze statue in Japan and the Great Buddha at Kamakura are the famous outcomes. The Ikebana or Japanese art of floral arrangements expresses the appreciation towards nature and color. Traditional Japanese musical instruments consist of the Biwa, Koto and samisen Japanese Culture consists of harmonious traditional Japanese music.

Many cities have their own professional symphony orchestras that specialize in western music. The no plays of 1300's,puppet theatre and kabuki plays of Japan have continued to attract people over hundreds of years while unconventional western plays are also popular. Japanese wear traditional kimono cloth or the “long wear” and are available in variety of colors and sizes for people of all ages and sex. The lighter summer kimonos are known as yukata. Japanese cuisine is sophisticated, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian and dishes like sushi and teriyaki have become world-famous. Traditional Japanese martial arts, the samurai and judo still remain profusely popular all over the world while baseball, football, rugby etc. are also appreciated by the Chinese sportsman. A blend of tradition and innovation, the basketball games and the sumo wrestling, the Western-style clothing and the traditional kimonos, the hundreds of years old kabuki drama and the modern plays, and such other cultural diversifications co-exist like the buds in a floral wreath.

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