Since many anime and manga series take place in their native Japan, the designs of internal structures and architecture probably appear quite foreign to many North American fans. At one point, in fact, dubbing and translation companies actually attempted to edit out any references that were considered to be “too Japanese.” Granted, things are quite different with most publishers today, and thus more fans are seeing the many differences between their own customs and those of Japan.
Many conventions that North American fans take for granted will appear quite different in their favorite anime. For instance, tradition in Japan dictates that many doors slide. This may not seem like much, but to the Japanese, traditional design is of utmost importance.
Most Japanese households, whether of overall traditional or modern architecture, have at least one traditional room. Traditional rooms, or washitsu as they are called in Japanese, consist of straw mat floors and fusuma. Fusuma are one form of traditional sliding Japanese door. As with many such designs, these were traditionally made of paper set into wooden frames. They were painted with scenes depicting Buddhist or Shinto scriptural references. Furthermore, many fusuma work as room dividers and by sliding them, the geometry of room may shift.
While religious and nature themes are still quite common, as are the original materials, modern fusuma doors often have more variety. Modern composite materials are often used to manufacture the fusuma doors of today. Likewise, the paintings of cherry blossoms and geometric patterns sit aside panels that depict popular manga and anime characters.
The other type of sliding door, the Shi door, is slightly more transparent than the fusuma style. Acting also as a door or room divider, translucent paper, latticework, or (in more recent times) translucent plastic makes for this sort of design. Unlike the fusuma, these styles do not usually feature any artwork. That is not to say, however, that fusuma always do.
Traditional Japanese design is really well demonstrated in a slice of life anime like Lucky Star. However, even the school and home scenes of Bleach will cause these differences to be apparent. The Urahara Shop is quite traditional, in this respect, as well. Even though it doesn’t take place in the real world, per se, Princess Sakura’s original residence in Tsubasa features such designs. The Ichihara residence is somewhat traditional as well, in xxxHolic. Also, be on the look out for countless references in the interior of Light Yagami’s room in Death Note and the training academy from Naruto.
{ 7 trackbacks }