History of Japanese Kawara

Kawara is the Japanese word for roof tile. Fired clay tiles are a defining feature of Japanese temples, castles and traditional houses, but they were a foreign technology introduced in the late 6th century.

Arrival in 588

According to the Nihon Shoki, the Korean kingdom of Baekje sent craftsmen to Japan in 588, including four roof-tile experts, two temple builders, a specialist who probably made metal fittings, and a painter. They worked on Asuka-dera, the temple commissioned by Soga no Umako, which became the first fully fledged Buddhist temple complex in Japan. Tiles therefore arrived together with Buddhism and continental building methods.

Spread beyond temples

• Asuka period: tiles were used only on temples. The oldest surviving kawara in Japan are on the Gokuraku-bo hall and Zenshitsu of Gangō-ji in Nara, the successor of Asuka-dera.
• Late 7th century: palaces such as the Daigokuden of the Fujiwara capital were tiled.
• Nara and Heian periods: government offices, provincial offices and provincial monasteries were tiled, supplied by official tile works. Aristocratic houses still used cypress-bark (hiwada) roofing.
• Medieval period: imperial and shogunal buildings often returned to bark roofs.
• Azuchi-Momoyama period: castles used gilded tiles, including the fish-shaped shachi ornaments and demon-faced onigawara.

Edo period changes

Peace and dense wooden cities made fire the major threat. The shogunate and domains encouraged tile roofs as a fire precaution, and tiles spread to ordinary houses. In 1674 the tile maker Nishimura Hanbei developed the sangawara, a single-piece pantile combining pan and cover. It used less clay and weighed less, making tiles practical on lighter buildings. Copper and lead tiles were also used on some castle roofs to save weight.

Modern era

In the Meiji period, Western-style tiles were introduced and an improved hooked pantile, hikkake sangawara, was developed; it became a standard tile by 1926. Today Japan has more than 1,000 kinds of tile by style, use and region, fired in long tunnel kilns.