Shoin (書院,drawing room orstudy) is a type of audience hall inJapanese architecture that was developed during theMuromachi period.^[2] The term originally meant a study and a place for lectures on thesūtra within a temple, but later it came to mean just a drawing room or study.^[3] Theshoin-zukuri style takes its name from this room. In a shoin-zukuri building, theshoin is thezashiki, a tatami-room dedicated to the reception of guests.

The emerging architecture of the Muromachi period was subsequently influenced by the increasing use ofshoin. One of the most noticeable changes in architecture to arise from theshoin came from the practice of lining their floors withtatami mats.^[4] Sincetatami mats have a standardized size, the floor plans forshoin rooms had to be developed around the proportions of thetatami mat; this in turn affected the proportions of doors, the height of rooms, and other aspects of the structure.^[4] Before theshoin popularized the practice of lining floors withtatami mats it had been standard to bring out only a singletatami mat for the highest-ranking person in the room to sit on.^[4]

The architecture surrounding and influenced by theshoin quickly developed many other distinguishing features. Since the guests sat on the floor instead of on furniture, they were positioned at a lower vantage point than their Chinese counterparts who were accustomed to using furniture.^[4] This lower vantage point generated such developments as thesuspended ceilings which functioned to make the room feel less expansive, and also meant that the ceiling's rafters were no longer visible as they were in China.^[4] The new suspended ceilings also allowed for more elaborate decoration, resulting in many highly ornate suspended ceilings in addition to the much simpler ones.^[4] Other characteristic developments to arise from the lower vantage point were thetokonoma andchigaidana. Thetokonoma was an elevated recess built into the wall to create a space for displayingChinese art, which was popular at the time, at a comfortable eye level.^[4] Thechigaidana, or "staggered shelves", were shelving structures built into thetokonoma to display smaller objects.^[4] At the same time as the development of theshoin architecture,fusuma, or "sliding doors", came to be a popular way to divide rooms.^[4] To accommodate the sliding doors, builders began creating square-shaped columns.^[4]

The asymmetry of thetokonoma andchigaidana pair, along with the squared pillars, differentiated theshoin design from theChinese design of the time, which favored symmetric pairs of furniture and round pillars.^[4] Soon after its advent,shoin architecture became associated with these evolving elements as it became the predominant format for formal gathering rooms.^[4]

• Japanese architectural features
• Rooms

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