Sengoku period house construction

[Vagabond]

Hi Guys, I have painted up some of the Perry Japanese figures and now want to provide homes for them. I am not very knowledgeable about this area of history at all and would appreciate some help.

So around the late 1500s early 1600s what would the house walls and roofs be constructed from, especially in the country.

Looking at the excellent oshiro models from Jim Bibbly I can see roofs made of  thatch and tiles but most of the houses have roofs made of something else? Wood, bamboo or is it some mat structure.

Similarly with the walls, between the wooden posts what are the walls constructed of, is it daub and wattle? And why are there wooden planks but only part way up the walls, is this just for decorative purposes?

I guess that glass was not used in most houses at the time but if paper panels were used to let light in, why do the roofs not overhang a long way to stop rain destroying them.

If walls are some form of daub and wattle what colour would this be, natural earth or were they protected with lime wash the same as western houses or some other form of protection.

Sorry if I am asking stupid questions.

Thanks for any help received

[Hupp n at em]

Sorry if I am asking stupid questions

Nah I think they are quite astute questions, I'm hoping someone with knowledge will answer them because now you have me curious too. 

[carabus03]

Me as well

[sepoy1857]

I'm not an expert (but I play one on T.V.); I know there were differences in style and construction materials based on region if that's any help (?). Found these on the inter-web using a Bing search. Hope it is of some help.

[SotF]

If you're talking about roof types, the easy and cheap way to make a tiled roof is to take corrugated cardboard, cut it to shape for the part of the roof and then peel off one side of the cover to reveal the corrugation. For any of the points where it would fold such as the peak of the roof, cut a plastic straw in half lengthwise and cut to length.

[Vagabond]

Scott your search skills are better than mine using Google. The image showing wooden boards for roofs with stones to hold them down must be the oshiro representation.
 This is great information. Better than anything I've come up with.
Thanks a lot.

SotF
Thanks - for the roofs I was trying to identify the material used and now know it is wooden boards, which to be honest is what the oshiro models look like, I just did not think the joints would be waterproof without some covering or very clever carpentry. I also thought if you were going to use wood for the roofs then shingles is the obvious answer.

Corrugated for roofs is a good tip.

[sepoy1857]

Here's the link to the website with more information. Also a link to Temple info if you'd like to have a go building a Temple complex!!!
Architecture:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/cultural/experience/a.html
Buddhist Tempes:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/cultural/experience/e.html
Shinto Shrines:
http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/indepth/cultural/experience/d.html

[parcival42]

I asked similar questions after looking through all of the photos that Matthew Ross posted on Facebook.  He lives in Japan and was kind enough to visit quite a few historical sites and take pictures and share them on the Daisho Facebook page.

I had a similar question about bamboo mats attached to the bottoms of houses.  It was just to keep the rain from ruining the plaster.  I suppose the nicer houses just had the lower portions made of wood so that it wouldn't be an issue.

I've included the conversation from Facebook, which has some more information.  Mr. Ross also has posted a lot more pictures from different castles and temples on the Daisho page, so if your interested you may watnt to head over there and scroll down to the August posts.

Here's the link to the photos:
https://www.facebook.com/ma77h3nk3l/media_set?set=a.10153500665362594.1073741872.646922593&type=1&l=f718f784ba



Jeffry Ryan Clarke: Wow, very informative, although it raises some questions. The rocks on the roofs of the houses were there just for weight to hold the roofs on? I noticed that some of the roofs were just lashed on. Was that the peasant way? And why the bamboo poles tied to the sides of buildings?

Craig Cartmell: Japan is subjected to typhoons every year. Thatched roofs don't do so well in 100mph winds.


Matthew Ross: The thatch roofs are rarely weighed... at least I've never seen one like that. The wood tiled roofs are weighed to avoid the wind blowing the shingles off. It's not a peasant thing, per se, you can see in the model that buildings in the manors also have stone weights, but not typically on the main house, which would have a more expensive roof: perhaps ceramic tile or a copper or lead skinned one.

The bamboo skirts on the lower edge of the wall is a protective feature, to avoid the stucco/plaster getting damaged by overly wet conditions. The bamboo screens between the shops work as a fence or hedge. The bundled poles seen in various places, often tied up under the eaves, are utility poles... used to dry clothes and laundry, and for various manufacturing tasks, and they are used with a series of ropes in winter to protect garden trees. The poles are lashed to the trunk, and ropes are suspended from it to help support the boughs from deformation by the weight of the snow. The effect is rather like a Christmas tree... I have a picture somewhere... I'll try to dig it out.
August 2

[Vagabond]

Scott thanks for the links. A temple complex sounds interesting but probably beyond my skills and the time and effort I want to spend on this. The rest of it is great.

Parcival  thanks also, I am one of the few none Facebook people so really appreciate you pasting the comments in your post. Some good stuff here.

For anyone interested here is the result of hours of searching the net to get very little on Sengoku period housing. This may be because I am useless or it may be because I believe up to about 1600 house posts were sunk in the ground and so rotted, after this time they were rested on stones to stop this and so there are plenty of examples still in existence from the edo period.

All the pictures showed thatch or tiles or both on the same roof, no boards or shingles but this may be because as roofs were replaced over time these were a less desirable option or it may be that they were peasant rural styles. Any thoughts?

Wall infill panels! I saw one picture that appeared to show a panels construction, this was on a flicker set and with no title so may be rubbish. There was no wattle, instead it was vertical rods with horizontal rods tied on, so same effect but the daub had a smooth surface as though troweled on rather than a rough texture because it was done with hands. Again maybe high class finish as opposed to rustic.

The wooden panelling around the bottom of the wall as protection against rain splatter. Thanks Parcival.

Still done know about paper windows, when did they come into use for high class houses and low class. The examples I saw were all under big eves usually a veranda and I read about storm panels that maybe enclosed the veranda. If I can post a picture there is something that looks like this on the right hand side, anyone have any info?

Really appreciate the info given and I feel I have a better grasp of what to aim for now.

If anything written above is wrong or you have anything else to add please let me know.

Thanks