Das japanische Haus und sein Leben

“Houses and People of Japan” is a major work among Bruno Taut's numerous writings, written and published during the years of his exile in Japan after he had fled the National Socialists. The German edition follows the original manuscript, preserved in the archive of the Japanese publisher.

First published in Japan in English in 1937 and reissued there in a second edition, the book is still regarded in Japan as the standard work for understanding the country's architectural history. The qualities that distinguish Bruno Taut's own architecture — simplicity, restraint and respect for genuine tradition — return in his reading of Japan's historic buildings. Taut shows how Japanese architecture is designed out of its historical and social conditions, and the German edition follows his own layout down to the last detail, since he designed the book himself.