The Japanese Home Stylebook: Architectural Details and Motifs

Saburo Yamagata
Stone Bridge Press (2007)
ISBN 9781880656013
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (4/07)

If your tastes run to something simple, but not austere, or if you simply love great design, do yourself a favor and get a copy of Saburo Yamagata’s “The Japanese Home Stylebook.” This is a visually stunning book, which will certainly be able to provide numerous ideas to anybody who is involved in design, home remodeling or interior decoration. Even architects and builders should be able to pick up many ideas from it.

The book consists mainly of pictorial material although Editor Peter Goodman provided some text explaining the basics behind the Japanese residential style and its elements. Starting with a basic Introduction, the book is further divided into chapters, each dealing with one of the elements. Each chapter starts with explanation of that element, followed by numerous drawings. The elements included are: Tokonoma and Shelves, Tatami Mats and Ceilings, Transoms, Fusuma, Shoji Screens, Windows, Doors, Railings and Verandas, Garden Fences and Paths and Decorative Patterns. If the 1800+ drawings found in this book are not enough to inspire you, the last chapter lists “Other Design Sources.”

I found this book to be elegant and truly inspiring. My only regret is that there are no pictures of complete, finished rooms or houses, depicting the finished product. Maybe this opens the doors even wider for reader’s own creativity and imagination…

I would recommend “The Japanese Home Stylebook” for anybody who deals with design, home building, or renovations.

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