“When the human spirit carves buildings…” – Part IV

In the fourth meeting of our group, as our journey to the Far East continues, we visited two more magnificent places: the Korean peninsula, with the thousands of dolmens scattered throughout the country; and Japan, with the distinctive gently curved eaves of the temples and castles, palaces and simple designed dwellings that seem to be floating amid the arms of blooming cherry and plum trees.

We walked across an arched small bridgethat looked like it stepped out of a Monet paintingat a koi pond beside the traditional stone lantern (toro), and there, we grew familiar with an aesthetic that holds deep respect for the deified spirits of nature. It was this minimalistic aesthetic that served as an inspiration to the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and to western architecture on the whole.

And as the entire story of the world many times went through gates (tori) from the irreverent to the sanctified and vice versa, we left the tea rooms with their stunning view at tranquil dry creek bed gardens and eventually reached the year 1868 CE. And so, due to European influences, begins the end of the long-lasting culture of pure Japanese architecture. Finally, we fulfilled our journey with the Japanese occupation of Korea and the formation of North and South Korea in 1948 CE.

Across lands and time, human creations especially in relation to buildings are record-keepers of the history of our world!

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