Even if wood was a scarce commodity, it seems that (at least in the movies) there was sufficient wodo for flooring and posts, so that shouldn’t be a problem for developing little ole chairs; or at least for the wealthy. So, why did chairs develop in some cultures and not others? Was sitting around on the ground so bad in Europe that chairs were a must for those that could buy them?
I don’t think wood was a scarce resource in Japan. But to answer your question, it’s one of those ‘just because’ things. Some cultures don’t develop things that seem obvious to our Western mindsets.
This is a totally uninformed opinion, but I’m under the impression that people in the East (Japan, China, India, Arabia, etc.) in the ancient times used to sit around on pillows instead of on chairs.
Japanese floors were covered in tatami mats, basically rugs traditionally made from rice straw, if memory serves. Wooden chair legs will tear those up quickly. The mats covered all styles of flooring, and were the unit of measurement for room size (three tatami, four tatami, etc.). Floor chairs were developed to provide back support, with a cushion for sitting on, but still at floor level.
I don’t know if this developed because of the lack of chairs, but the traditional ways of sitting in Japanese culture don’t work at all with chairs.
Weeeeird. The Guy was just asking me today why Korean culture lacks chairs.
I realized I have no idea. A lot of (East) Asian culture is very floor-centered - our floors are heated, we traditionally sleep on futons on the ground, we have different ways of sitting to indicate our social station (well, we used to), etc. But I dunno why.
If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it might have something to do with different aesthetics - East Asian stuff tends towards the simplistic and “the beauty of empty space,” which would presumably lead to as few material objects as possible that might clutter up a room.
The Japanese weren’t unfamiliar with chairs, but they weren’t used much. One factor besides tatami, which as noted would get torn up quickly by either shoes or chairs, is that rooms were small and multi-purpose in traditional Japanese housing. A typical room was between 6 and 8 畳 (a jô is a measurement that’s still used for living area measurements), about 108 to 140 sq. ft. A room that was 10-jô was considered big.
Most furniture was small, moveable, or convertible. Regular futon were folded up and stored in a closet when they were not being used for sleeping (the couch-style frames that usually come with a thick pad that weighs about 50 lbs. are a Western invention). There isn’t a dedicated bedroom or living room in some older houses, so everyone just pulled out a futon and crashed in the middle of a room.
A lot of these things are still true about modern Japanese housing. Rooms are still very small and there aren’t many of them in the house. I live in the countryside and have a relatively large place. My apartment has a kitchen, small living room, bathroom and toilet downstairs, and two upstairs rooms that are a little bigger than 8-jô. Many apartments are just slightly larger than my downstairs room+kitchen, which is probably under 200 sq. ft. Yes, the whole apartment, including bathroom and kitchen. The adoption of some Western furniture has actually made usable living spaces smaller than in the past, since there’s all that stuff that takes up room when you’re not using it.
When I first got here, I was surprised at how many people slept in beds and had kitchen tables instead of living Japanese-style. I used to live more Japanese than most of the Japanese people I knew. Up until my wife moved in I didn’t have a bed; I slept on a traditional futon on the floor and folded it up and shoved it in the closet during the day. I used a small kotatsu table and cushions on the floor instead of a sit-down table. I had a lot more living space, so it was one of the few indoor spaces where I actually had enough room to move around inside without bonking myself on crap. I love my wife, but I really miss the days when I had minimal furniture and didn’t have to constantly be vigilant of my shins.
WAG would be that the far East was less concerned with pests. I’m not sure whether this is a reflection of the local wildlife or the way they built things. I think that in China they often built the entire house off the ground, plus they often had a raised barrier at the bottom of the doorway that you had to step over to get in. Either way, if you’re largely pest free, there’s not as much call to get up off of the floor.
Modern-style furniture in most Thai households dates only from the 1950s, when one of the strongman prime ministers decreed a modernization drive. I think it was Sarit Thanarat (1958-63), but I’m not sure. Before that, it was floors and cushions. Today, too, in some parts of upcountry.