Upper House - Hakone Historic District - Saratoga, CA
Posted by: 
saopaulo1
N 37° 15.125 W 122° 02.507
10S E 584977 N 4123268
The Upper House at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, CA.
Waymark Code: WMT31V
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 09/16/2016
Views: 0
"The Hill and Pond Garden is at the center of Hakone and contains the Upper House (1917-18), constructed of wood using traditional Japanese carpentry techniques and building materials. The Upper House was designed to resemble a rustic style (shoin-zukuri) residence, and was built to accommodate sleeping, eating, reading, and performance of the tea ceremony using traditional floor-level tatami mats. The interior includes a tokonoma (decorative alcove) that is indicative of the shoin-zukuri style, that was popular during the reign of the samurai. It also contains elements that evolved from the shoin-zukuri style into the sukiya, which is associated with the ritual and practice of the tea ceremony. Elaborately painted interior partition screens, or chodiagamae, which were original to the structure, were removed at some point in the past. On two sides of the Upper House, a veranda, or engawa, provides access to the one-room structure. The engawa has glassed panels facing both the exterior and interior of the building, and these panels can be opened, providing air and light to the interior, or closed to provide protection from the elements or for privacy. The Upper House has a wood shingled, hipped roof with gently curved exposed rafters. The roof ridge ends have decorative wood cut outs in the shape of stylized clouds, a common feature of Amida or Pure Land Buddhism. Wood, as both a structural framing system, and as a decorative material, predominates. It is not painted or covered, but has been left to weather and age naturally. The Upper House was situated to take advantage of the existing topography, as well as to facilitate “moon viewing,” a centuries-old autumnal activity in Japan." (
visit link)