Thanks for those keywords, Jay!
You are most welcome...!!!
As a teacher, helping students of all ages (and topic interests) it has been a passion of mine for a number of decades now, to really engage in the different medium processes of..."good research."
Whether "tomb" or "internet" I learned decades ago to..."go to the source"...whenever possible. In this case with "the web" that means learning to do research in the "original languages," of the topic one is interested in. This is the way the internet algorithms function. Japanese Kanji, Korean Hangul, or Chinese Hanzi (as just some basic language groups much different from the "English alphabet) all have a vast and far reaching base of knowledge and information capacity to share on all subjects...even one as seemingly esoteric as "timber framing."
Most references I find to Japanese joinery are the elaborate temple-style stuff...
For the most part...that is too true...
Most of what "Westerners" see, learn or read about (in English) is a very bent, romanticized, and/or narrow scoped perspective too often based on "Eurocentric" perspectives, viewpoints, understanding, and/or interpretations...It isn't until one get to really embrace an "indigenous perspective" that one can truly learn (or begin to learn) how a topic actually is perceived by a culture or societal group...
I like your desire to seek the "practical for a pedestrian" as that has been my primary focus in the guild arts in general and timber framing in particular...
I have love and began specializing in "folk styles" decades ago...particularly in regions from Native American, Middle Eastern, African, and of course throughout the vast content we call "Asian." I fell in love with the charm and pragmatic grace of the folk styles, like Minka, Hanok, Chise, Daji Derweri, Kath Kuni and the list goes on...
I also think I understand what you describe as far as flexibility...these joints seem arranged so as to be at their most flexible when in the 'nominal' position (like a horizontal beam passing through a mortise --Nuki, right?
Excellent!!
Not only are you getting it...you keyed in on one of the most beautifully simplistic (and most practically functioning) systems...the Nuki horizontal beaming modalities...
Having studied now a vast array of timber framing styles around the globe from Native American, African and European...I can state emphatically, there hasn't been a system that "stiffens" a frame more rigidly as these "horizontal modality" while still giving the timber frame a degree of "flexibility" that triangulated systems simply can not achieve...no matter the format...
Oblique systems do have there place, yet can never achieve the "stiffness with flexibility" that the "horizontal bracing system" can...which is paramount for a frame to last thousands of years when subjected to heavy and/or extreme ongoing tectonic loading...Such as one finds in places like the Himalayas, and Japan as just two prime examples...
...which is most 'loose' while the structure is square, but will react with a fairly strong moment as the structure flexes...
AGAIN...precisely stated!!
These horizontal systems "fail" in a slow, relaxing fashion (for the most part) and not in a catastrophic way, as do most (if not all) oblique systems...
A "triangulated system" whether at 45 degrees or some other less critical angle, will hold rigid and stiff extremely well...Unfortunately they also tend to fail "catastrophically" when they do finally give way to an over loaded critical scenario. They tend to come down fast and very hard, once the load capacity of the frame has been max capacity, often completely blowing apart the timber frame of which they formed...In in a region like Japan...especially areas with daily earthquakes found in some range...a forced evolution of timber framing took place over millenia that would allow the frames to become able to "slowly fail"...and/or "rack" in severe situation while not collapsing completely...while sacrificial members (like nuki) where slowly crushed...This also allowed frames to be more effectively salvaged and/or simply un-racked and "stiffened by the placement of key "wedges" and new lighter timber members...such as the Nuki...
As you so rightfully noted further...in regions like Hokkaido...you will see both the oblique systems (often in the horizontal format like Hiuchibari of in the roof or sill/plate orientation) and the "Nuki systems" working in concert with one another...
Because there we find not only high winds and earthquakes but also massive snow loads that literally cover communities under meters of snow each year... In such places as this, one must have a frame that can be massively stiff to support the snow's weight, yet also have a system within to allow greater degrees of flexibility not found in most European modalities...As you say..."the best of both worlds."
I did notice a long diagonal stiffening frame in many of the structures... it looks to jut straight into the corner between post & lintel. Are these usually fitted to the horizontal plate, or into the post beneath the plate joint (or both)?
It depends on the region and applications style, as we have just begun to scratch the surface of these different systems of timber framing...which vastly outnumber what we find in Europe if taking in the entire context of Asia, and then the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
You are more than getting the most germain aspects however...it is a beautiful and most graceful mix of..."both worlds." In general perhaps the most "globally applicable" systems one could find and/or adapt to "modern timber frames" and there current applications. "Asian design" modalities...with there heavy and dominating reliance on "horizontal systems" (both oblique and horizontal "pass through") allow better facilitation of fenestration and many other design aesthetics one finds and/or desires within "modern designs." This is one of the primary reasons "Green and Green", Gustav Stickley and many other founders accredited to the "Craftsman movement" here in North America, turned to the purity and pragmatic functionality of Asian systems...
As for Spain...it is a big place and does contain many different biome types that often "visitors" don't get into on typical vacations to the Iberian peninsula...One very unique form that has a millenia old ancestry (one of the oldest in Europe) from well traveled sailors and long traveled fluences...we have the
Hórreo system of timber framing which is very beautiful and unique...They appear greatly unstable, yet withstand earthquakes, and massive weight as most function as store houses, barns, and granary. Note again the lack of "oblique bracing" in most of the designs found in this system of stone and timber architecture...except where absolutely critical...
Any keywords I should home in on?
Gosh!!
Where to begin, of which culture and what language???
I have been compiling information for decades and still learn more each year...
It is sometimes pleasantly overwhelming just how broad and far reaching this great craft of timber framing has been...and just how...Non-European...most of it is in design and natural aesthetic...
