Forest of the Honmon-ji temple
The temple in this photo may look like located in a jungle, but is actually in a densely populated southwestern suburb of Tokyo strideing over the river terrace and cliff of the Tamagawa river. It is the headquarters of Nichiren-shuu (日蓮宗) sect of Japanese Buddhism.
The stupa in the right was built in 1608.
The main temple in the left was burned down in 1945 by an air raid during WWII and reconstructed in 1964.
Japan is an earthquake-prone country, and historical records clearly indicate that wooden stupas were more resistant to earthquakes than other buildings in the same sites. As an example, the Honmon-ji stupa in the photo survived the Kanto Earthquake that devastated Tokyo in 1923.
Architectural studies were conducted on the antiseismic mechanism of stupas, based on which a theory of "flexible structure" was proposed. The point of the theory was to combine various parts with joints so that a structure would have a certain level of flexibility to absorb the seismic energy. To put it simply, stupas are designed to dance when the earth moves.
I hear that the theory is useful to design high-rise buildings in earthquake-prone areas.
Forest of the Honmon-ji temple
The temple in this photo may look like located in a jungle, but is actually in a densely populated southwestern suburb of Tokyo strideing over the river terrace and cliff of the Tamagawa river. It is the headquarters of Nichiren-shuu (日蓮宗) sect of Japanese Buddhism.
The stupa in the right was built in 1608.
The main temple in the left was burned down in 1945 by an air raid during WWII and reconstructed in 1964.
Japan is an earthquake-prone country, and historical records clearly indicate that wooden stupas were more resistant to earthquakes than other buildings in the same sites. As an example, the Honmon-ji stupa in the photo survived the Kanto Earthquake that devastated Tokyo in 1923.
Architectural studies were conducted on the antiseismic mechanism of stupas, based on which a theory of "flexible structure" was proposed. The point of the theory was to combine various parts with joints so that a structure would have a certain level of flexibility to absorb the seismic energy. To put it simply, stupas are designed to dance when the earth moves.
I hear that the theory is useful to design high-rise buildings in earthquake-prone areas.