Shoko-Ken: A Late Medieval Daime Sukiya Style Japanese Tea-House

The late medieval sukiya tea-house is recognised by scholars and architects as the precursor for the modern and contemporary Japanese architectural tradition. This form is also seen to have contributed significantly to aspects of Western architectural tradition. The daime style is possibly the most distinctively 'Japanese', enigmatic and oldest form located within the sukiya tradition.

The work examines the Shoko-Ken: A Late Medieval Daime Sukiya Style Japanese Tea-House, built in 1628, at the Koto-in temple in the precincts of Daitoku-ji monastery in Kyoto. The Shoko-ken is one of the few remaining extant constructions of its type dating from the medieval period and makes claims to the generic model developed by the great tea-master Sen no Rikyu.

This study sets out to provide a means of evaluation of the unique yet highly significant form of architecture through the examination of the Shoko-ken as an approach to discern difference and identity between this example and other examples of Sukiya tea-house architecture.