bamboo fences

curved komayose

author: isao yoshikawa publisher: princeton architectural press year: 2009 size: 160 pages, 20.3 x 22.9 cm isbn: 978-1-56898-834-4

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bamboo has emerged as the building material of choice for the twenty-first century. five times stronger than concrete and flexible enough to be woven like a silk, bamboo has for millennia been an indispensable resource for cultures around the world.

content bamboo’s abundance and extreme durability has made it a natural choice as a raw material for fences and partitions. ‘bamboo fences’ provides a detailed survey of the art of fence design in japan, from those used in your garden to larger scale wall structures. the history of bamboo and its use is supported by 250 images which showcase the versatility and material aesthetics of the wood. more than twenty different fence designs described, all classified by type, from the common ‘four-eyed fence’ (yotsume-gaki) to the expensive ‘spicebush fence’ (kuromoji-gake), giving a good overview of the craft. there is also a glossary which has explanations of japanese fence names and structural terms, as well as technical drawings of the designs to better understand their complexity.

is it for me? this book is for those who have a strong appreciation for well crafted design and construction. beautifully illustrated, it provides a good overview of bamboo as a structural material and its technical fence applications.

five-tiered komayose

standard four-tiered komayose

torch fence (taimatsu-gaki) is a broadly speaking, a piece of bamboo fence with vertical pieces made of bush clover or spicebush branches bundled in the shape of a torch.

namazu fence

rectangular sprials provide a graphic aesthetic to the natural material

top: an agesudo suspended from a large shiorido bottom: the same agesude, raised with a bamboo polea to let guests in

somewhat small but refined, katsura wing fence and shiorido (rakushisha, kyoto)