japanese
Kamei Fumio Retrospective [PR and Educational Films]

Invitation to Japanese Architecture

(“Nihon no kenchiku”)
- 1959 / English / Color / 35mm / 20 min

Director: Kamei Fumio
Planning: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Production Company: Nichiei Kagaku Eiga Co.,Ltd.
Source: National Film Center

One of a series of Ministry of Foreign Affairs films introducing Japan to the world. As the example of the Wind and Thunder Gods (fujin raijin) makes clear, Japanese architecture has a deep connection to nature. Rooms are marked by shoji paper windows and fusuma sliding screens, and if these are taken off then the garden appears and the interior becomes one with nature. Using examples from Todaiji, Horyuji, Toshodaiji, Byodoin, Tofukuji and Sanjusangen-do temples and from the Imperial Palace in Kyoto, the film introduces the characteristics and designs of roofs, walls, pillars and other architecture features. After showing such traditional architectural forms as tokonoma decorative alcoves, teahouses, the ceiling paintings at Nishi-Honganji temple, the rock garden at Ryoanji temple, the garden and fusuma-e paintings on wall panels at Ginkakuji temple and a farmhouse in Nara, the film presents the construction sites of modern buildings built with steel and concrete.



• Kamei Fumio Retrospective [Pre-War Works] Hiking Song | Shape without Shape | An Introduction to Radio: The Audience | School Broadcasting | The Geology of Fuji | Airspace [Pre-War Documentary Films] Shanghai | Peking | Fighting Soldiers | Kobayashi Issa [Post-War Documentary Films] A Japanese Tragedy | Children of the Base | The People of Sunagawa | Wheat Will Never Fall | Still It’s Good to Live | Record of Blood: Sunagawa | The World Is Terrified: The Reality of the “Ash of Death” | Living in a Rough Sea | Fluttering Pigeons | Voice of Hiroshima | Men Are All Brothers | Towards a World without Arms | All Must Live: People, Insects and Birds | All Living Things Are Friends—Lullabies of Birds, Insects and Fish [Feature Films] War and Peace | A Woman’s Life | Become a Mother, Become a Woman | Woman Walking Alone on the Earth [PR and Educational Films] Poem of Life | Invitation to Japanese Architecture | Penmanship | Quiet Construction Methods | Living with Ideas: A Profile of Sharp | Let’s Weave a Rainbow | Hong Kong, Taipei | Norihei Travel Manners | The Southern Cross Is Calling | Wishing for Tomorrow’s Happiness [Other Works] Underwear Makes the Woman | The Models and the Photographer | Kamei on Kamei: A Record of Yesterday’s Film Production Discussion Group | Human Conceit: The World of Director Kamei Fumio