Zen at Work: In Japan they set up offices for employees who want to work while relaxing

Japanese aesthetics are known for its minimalist approach wanting to keep things simple and mostly useful. So it is no surprise that one of its leading construction companies Japan tries to address the lack of space for work at home due to the pandemic, creating a tiny office building that can be built next to houses in just two days – and in fact with all terms and conditions of the “strict” Japanese architecture that promotes zen in all its forms.

The so called «Hanare Zen» is a tiny building 91 cm wide and 1.8 meters long equipped with sockets and office. Is minimal, is comfortable, is ideal for teleworking, claims now the construction company, KI Star Real Estate, which has already started taking orders for Hanare Zen from September 6 and hopes to take advantage of the market of those workers who struggle to work in small houses and often work in the midst of commotion.

The word “Hanare” means “separately” in Japanese, while “Zen” refers to the tranquility and enlightenment of the Mahayana Buddhist school.

“It is designed for people who have difficulty finding a comfortable place to work from home and do not want to interfere with their family,” she said. Tsisa Uhiyama, representative of KI Star Real Estate.

Hanare Zen costs 547,800 yen (4,240 euros) and is already available in Tokyo.

Zen, from China to Japan and its popularity

Zen is a school of Mahayana Buddhism which emphasizes experiential Wisdom in achieving enlightenment. Zen appeared as a separate school of Buddhism, as Chan, for the first time in China in the 6th century. It spread from China south to Vietnam, and east to Korea and Japan. Zen Buddhism emphasizes strict discipline and self-control, meditation, understanding of the nature of the mind and the nature of things.

The Zen arrived in Japan on the 7th^The A.D. century by the Japanese monk Doso, but was declared an official religion in 1191 by Aisai (1141-1215), who taught Zen Buddhism and introduced the tea ritual to Japan.

Dogen (1200-1253) is the one who founded Zen in Japan in its purest form. He went to China at the age of 24 to a Buddhist monastery and after four years of study returned to Japan and stayed for three years in a hermitage meditating. His hermitage was gradually converted into a monastery, where he lived for 11 years, teaching meditation and writing important books on Zen. He was the one who made Zen known to the top management of the country, with emperors and samurai to warmly embrace Zen Buddhism. After all, Zen monks and samurai shared common values ​​such as tough discipline, dignity, courage, bravery, self-sacrifice, fasting and self-control.

In today In Japan there are three Zen Buddhist schools: the Soto school, the Rinzai school and the Obaku school. The Soto school is the most dominant, while the Obaku school has the fewest followers. The followers of the Zen sects and their subdivisions in modern Japan number about 10 million people.

Zen Architecture, the basis of Japanese culture

Japanese architecture has not only its roots in Zen philosophy, but also its very (fifth) essence. Japanese Zen is inspired by the simplicity of the shapes and designs found in minimalist architecture and design.

The specific school [που μοιάζει πολύ με την αντίστοιχη σκανδιναβική / σουηδική] imposes an obsession with linear designs, the use of materials that come from nature without any intervention in their colors, setting the basic parameters of the aesthetic design of spaces.

The design of the interior walls is deliberately and highly abstract moving in its logic less is more [όσο λιγότερα, τόσο περισσότερα]. Architects design Japanese houses in ways that “open” the space while using large openings as huge balcony doors to the courtyards, allowing the organic and harmonious flow between the interior and exterior.

Japanese architects such as Tantao Ando, have ideally translated into their homes this notion of harmonious and nature-loving Zen in order to create an ideal relationship between the natural environment, space and its buildings. Anto in an urban Japanese house mainly uses white and neutral colors while using the most basic natural materials such as wood or glass.