Japanese Shoji Windows

Great many designs and patterns have found expression in the shoji windows. The real aesthetic lies in the frame-work of the shoji windows. It definitely caters even to the most exquisite taste. The designs are done in innumerable geometric figures, though one may be more familiar with rectilinear shoji, otherwise spelled as soji. It is important to note that there are also available diamond patterns, with curving lines, and landscape shapes. The shoji of the earlier Fujiwara period were elaborately ornamented with paintings of various kinds. The decorative quality of these shoji may have been an inspirational factor for many later window designers.

Shoji windows consist of light and beautiful frame-work. This is done using thin bars of wood crisscrossing and fitting into each other, and forming small rectangular interspaces. The shoji windows are covered on the outside with white paper. The light from outside passes through this paper and enters the room, flooding it with a soft diffused light which gives the room a pleasant ambience.

Cute specific shoji windows are there to suit almost all the situations. Windows for kitchen, for fixing it above bathroom sink, to use it as bedroom windows are more are there. Shoji paper on the window can also soften afternoon sunlight, if it is over exposed to sunlight. Windows with beautiful shoji shades will beauty your bed room. Shoji window coverings are employed to give elegance and privacy to the room.

Shoji windows are really a work of art, put together by skilled craftspeople. They mostly use the same tools they did a thousand years ago. Great techniques and processes those are simple in its concept but incredibly complex in its potential, go into its making. Lowly shoji doors are common things in Japanese homes. Not just as doors, but they are also used as shoji windows and room dividers.

In Japan one usually finds outside doors and windows made of glass. In living rooms, shoji windows are often juxtaposed with the glass windows. The glass helps keep the harmonious atmosphere within intact. Thus even in well-appointed modern rooms, a translucent window is often fixed in front of glass windows in the place of a curtain so as to get subdued light, a warm surface effect and good heat insulation. Thus, windows of a contemporary room comprise shoji inside, amado (wooden door) outside and glass windows in between.

Specially designed shoji windows are where shoji panels find ideal applications. The unique architectural marvel of these windows can be gracefully enhanced with shoji panels. One of the most attractive shoji windows are those with arch top. Their arch top panels hinge open to allow for window cleaning and/or the outside view. Panels can be inside mount, to highlight the window casing, or outside mount if one likes to cover the window trim. Sustaining the architectural detail of the unique window shape, without sacrificing privacy or light control, shoji windows are equally attractive from the outside of the home like from inside. There lies its real advantage!