'''日本建築史'''（にほんけんちくし）では、日本における建築の歴史を記述する。

住宅について詳しくは日本の住宅、神社については神社建築を参照。

== 「日本建築史」の始まり ==
江戸時代から建築に対する有職故実的な研究は行われていたが、学問として成立するのは明治時代以降である（建築という用語自体、明治時代に造られたもの）。最初期の日本人建築家辰野金吾はロンドン留学の際に「日本の建築にはどのような歴史があるか」と聞かれて何も答えられず、自国の建築史研究の必要を感じたという。辰野の教え子、伊東忠太は法隆寺が日本最古の建築であることを学問的に論じ、ここに日本建築史が第一歩を記した。1900年（明治33年）、パリ万博に際して岡倉天心を中心に『稿本日本帝国美術略史』が刊行されたが、建築の部門を任された伊東忠太は天心の美術史区分に大きな影響を受け、建築史の大枠を築いた。当時、廃仏毀釈で大きな打撃を受けた寺院建築の保護が課題となっており、関野貞は奈良・京都の主な建築を調査し、それらの建築年代をまとめていった。また、建築史学者と歴史家の間に法隆寺の建設年代に関する論争（法隆寺再建・非再建論争）が起こったが、現存する建物の様式論や、六国史などの文献研究はもとより、遺構調査など考古学の発掘成果も取り入れられるようになって、学問の深化が見られた。

== 日本建築史の扱う範囲 ==
第2次世界大戦前までは古代・中世の社寺建築が研究の中心であったが、第二次世界大戦後は民家、江戸時代の社寺、明治以降の近代建築と次第に対象が広がっている（明治以降、旧植民地に日本人建築家の残した作品も対象になっている）。身近な街の古い建物にも関心が高まっており、例えば道端の祠のようなものでも、地域の歴史を物語るものとして評価されることがある。

== 日本建築の位置付けと特色 ==
日本建築は朝鮮半島・中国からの影響を受けて発展してきた。また近代以降は西欧の影響を強く受けているが、日本の風土・文化に合わせた独自な展開も見られる。

柱・梁を基本構造とする日本建築と、煉瓦や石で壁を築いてゆく西洋建築は対照的な存在であり、20世紀のモダニズムの時代になると、近代建築の理念を先取りした点があるとして注目されるようになった。

== 原始 ==
*三内丸山遺跡
*登呂遺跡
*吉野ヶ里遺跡

発掘成果に基づき、復元されるものも多くなっている。縄文時代の遺跡である三内丸山遺跡からは予想以上に高度な建築技術を持っていたことがうかがえる。

== 古代建築 ==
{{右|
thumb|none|200px|法隆寺 西院伽藍
thumb|none|200px|東大寺法華堂（三月堂）
thumb|none|200px|平等院鳳凰堂
}}
;飛鳥様式
*法輪寺
;白鳳様式
*薬師寺東塔
;奈良時代
*東大寺（法華堂、転害門など）、正倉院正倉、唐招提寺（金堂、講堂など）、法隆寺（夢殿など）
;平安時代前期
*室生寺金堂、醍醐寺五重塔など
;平安時代後期
*阿弥陀堂 - 平等院鳳凰堂、中尊寺金色堂、白水阿弥陀堂、富貴寺大堂
*寝殿造
飛鳥・奈良時代は、朝鮮半島や中国から建築技術を取り入れた時期である。仏教公伝（538年）以降、日本でも寺院建築が建てられるようになった。記録では577年に仏工・造寺工が百済から招かれた。588年から609年にかけて蘇我氏が築いた'''飛鳥寺'''（奈良県高市郡明日香村。法興寺、元興寺とも）や593年聖徳太子創建とされる摂津国の'''四天王寺'''(大阪府大阪市天王寺区。天王寺)が、日本最古の伽藍とされる（いずれも当初の建物は現存しない）。現存するものとしては法隆寺の西院伽藍、法起寺三重塔（ともに奈良県生駒郡斑鳩町）が最古のものである。法隆寺西院伽藍は、かつては聖徳太子の時代の建築と信じられていたが、近代における研究の進展の結果、670年の火災以後、7世紀末から8世紀初めの再建と考えられている。法起寺三重塔は8世紀初めの建築である。当時の伽藍配置や技法には、百済の寺院との共通性が指摘されている。遣隋使・遣唐使の時代になると、中国の建築様式の影響が強くなった。

平安時代、国風文化の時代になると建築様式も日本化し、柱を細く、天井を低めにした穏やかな空間が好まれるようになった。平安時代以降には日本独自の形態として発展し、この建築様式を'''和様'''と呼ぶ。

== 中世建築 ==
{{右|
thumb|none|200px|東大寺南大門
thumb|none|200px|慈照寺銀閣
}}
;鎌倉時代
*浄土寺建立（大仏様あるいは天竺様、俊乗坊重源）
*禅宗様（唐様）（禅宗仏殿） - 功山寺仏殿、善福院釈迦堂など
*（俗に）武家造
;室町時代
*鹿苑寺金閣（寝殿造+禅宗）、慈照寺銀閣（書院造+禅宗仏殿）
*主殿造

鎌倉時代に入ると、中国との交易が活発になったことで、再び中国の建築様式が伝えられた。まず入ってきたのは東大寺再興の際に用いられた様式である（'''大仏様'''あるいは'''天竺様'''）。

天平時代に建設された大仏殿は平安時代末期の源平の争乱の中、焼失した。俊乗坊重源は幾多の困難を克服して大仏を鋳造し、1185年、開眼供養。1195年、大仏殿を再建。1203年に総供養を行った（東大寺盧舎那仏像を参照）。

重源が再建した大仏殿などの建築様式は非常に独特なもので、当時の中国（宋）の福建省周辺の建築様式に通じるといわれている。

その建築様式は合理的な構造、豪放な意匠で大仏殿にはふさわしいものであったが、日本人の好む穏やかな空間とは相容れない面もあり、重源が死去すると大仏様も衰えた。大仏殿再建に関わった職人は各地へ移り、大仏様の影響を受けた和様も生まれ、これを'''折衷様'''と呼ぶ。

その後、禅僧が活発に往来し、中国の寺院建築様式が伝えられた。これは禅宗寺院の仏堂に多く用いられている（'''禅宗様'''あるいは'''唐様'''）。

== 近世建築 ==
{{右|
thumb|none|200px|姫路城天守群（安土桃山時代）
thumb|none|200px|東大寺二月堂（江戸時代初期）
}}
*安土桃山時代
**城郭、書院造の完成 - 姫路城、彦根城、松本城、犬山城など
**茶室

thumb|300px|right|Hondo at [[Kiyomizu-dera, Kyoto<Br>Built in 1633]]'''''' has as long a history as any other aspect of Japanese culture. Originally heavily influenced by Chinese architecture, it has also developed many differences and aspects which are indigenous to Japan.

== Prehistoric period ==
<gallery>
Image:Yoshinogari1.jpg|Reconstructed pit dwelling houses in Yoshinogari, Saga Prefecture, 2nd or 3rd century
Image:YoshinogariDwellings.jpg|Reconstructed dwellings in Yoshinogari
Image:YoshinogariIseki.jpg|Reconstructed raised-floor building in Yoshinogari
</gallery>

There are no extant examples of prehistoric architecture, and the oldest Japanese texts, such as Aomori or Yoshinogari site in Saga (before 3rd century BC). 

After the 3rd century, a centralized administrative system was developed and many keyhole-shaped Kofun were built in Osaka and Nara for the aristocracy. Among many examples in Nara and Osaka, the most notable is Daisen-kofun, designated as the tomb of Emperor Nintoku. This kofun is approximately 486 by 305 m, rising to a height of 35 m.

== Asuka and Nara architecture ==
<gallery>
Image:Horyu-ji11s3200.jpg|Kondo and pagoda at Hōryū-ji, Ikaruga, Nara<Br>Built in 7th century
Image:Shoso-in.jpg|Shōsōin at Todaiji, Nara<Br>Built in 8th century
</gallery>

The earliest  structures still extant in Japan, and the oldest surviving wooden buildings in the world are found at the Hōryū-ji to the southwest of Nara. They serve as the core examples of architecture in Chinese worship halls, is a two-story structure of post-and-beam construction, capped by an ''irimoya'', or hipped-gabled roof of ceramic tiles.

Temple building in the 8th century was focused around the Tōdaiji in Nara. Constructed as the headquarters for a network of temples in each of the provinces, the Tōdaiji is the most ambitious religious complex erected in the early centuries of Buddhist worship in Japan. Appropriately, the 16.2-m (53-ft) Buddha (completed in 752) enshrined in the main hall, or Daibutsuden, is a Rushana Buddha, the figure that represents the essence of Buddhahood, just as the Tōdai-ji represented the center for imperially sponsored Buddhism and its dissemination throughout Japan. Only a few fragments of the original statue survive, and the present hall and central Buddha are reconstructions from the Edo period.
Clustered around the Daibutsuden on a gently sloping hillside are a number of secondary halls: the Fukukenjaku Four Guardian Kings; and the storehouse, called the Shosoin. This last structure is of great importance as an art-historical cache, because in it are stored the utensils that were used in the temple's dedication ceremony in 752, the eye-opening ritual for the Rushana image, as well as government documents and many secular objects owned by the imperial family.

== Heian period ==
<gallery>
image:DaigojiKondo3237.jpg|Kondo at Daigo-ji, Kyoto<Br>Built in 12th century
Image:Byodoin-PhoenixHall-M1264.jpg|Phoenix Hall at Byodoin, Uji<Br>Built in 1053
</gallery>

In reaction to the growing wealth and power of organized Shingon, a form of Vajrayana Buddhism, which he introduced into Japan in 806. At the core of Shingon worship are the various mandalas, diagrams of the spiritual universe which influenced temple design. Japanese Buddhist architecture also adopted the stupa in its Chinese form of pagoda.

The temples erected for this new sect were built in the mountains, far away from the court and the laity in the capital. The irregular topography of these sites forced Japanese architects to rethink the problems of temple construction, and in so doing to choose more indigenous elements of design. Cypress-bark roofs replaced those of ceramic tile, wood planks were used instead of earthen floors, and a separate worship area for the laity was added in front of the main sanctuary.

In the Fujiwara period, Pure Land Buddhism, which offered easy salvation through belief in Amida (the Buddha of the Western Paradise), became popular. Concurrently, the Kyoto nobility developed a society devoted to elegant aesthetic pursuits. So secure and beautiful was their world that they could not conceive of Paradise as being much different. The Amida hall, blending the secular with the religious, houses one or more Buddha images within a structure resembling the mansions of the nobility.

The Ho-o-do (Phoenix Hall, completed 1053) of the Byodoin, a temple in Uji to the southeast of Kyoto, is the exemplar of Fujiwara Amida halls. It consists of a main rectangular structure flanked by two L-shaped wing corridors and a tail corridor, set at the edge of a large artificial pond. Inside, a single golden image of Amida (circa 1053) is installed on a high platform. The Amida sculpture was executed by Jocho, who used a new canon of proportions and a new technique (yosegi), in which multiple pieces of wood are carved out like shells and joined from the inside. Applied to the walls of the hall are small relief carvings of celestials, the host believed to have accompanied Amida when he descended from the Western Paradise to gather the souls of believers at the moment of death and transport them in lotus blossoms to Paradise. Raigo (Descent of the Amida Buddha) paintings on the wooden doors of the Ho-o-do are an early example of Yamato-e, Japanese-style painting, because they contain representations of the scenery around Kyoto.

== Kamakura and Muromachi period ==
<gallery>
Image:Sanju-Sangen-Do.jpg|Sanjūsangen-dō, Kyoto<Br>Built in 1266
image:Ginkakuji.jpg|Ginkakuji, Kyoto<Br>Built in 15th century
</gallery>

After the Kamakura period, Japanese political power was dominated by the armed Samurai, such as Seiwa Genji. Their ''simple and sturdy'' ideas affected the architecture style, and many samurai houses are a mixture of shinden-zukuri and turrets or trenches.

In the Genpei War (1180-1185), many traditional buildings in Nara and Kyoto were damaged. For example, Kofukuji and Todaiji were burned down by Taira no Shigehira of the Taira clan in 1180.  Many of these temples and shrines were rebuilt in the Kamakura period by the Kamakura shogunate to consolidate the shogun's authority. This program was carried out in such an extensive scale that many of the temples and shrines built after the Kamakura period were influenced by this architectural style. 

Another major development of the period was the tea ceremony and the tea house in which it was held. The purpose of the ceremony is to spend time with friends who enjoy the arts, to cleanse the mind of the concerns of daily life, and to receive a bowl of tea served in a gracious and tasteful manner. Zen was the basic philosophy. The rustic style of the rural cottage was adopted for the tea house, emphasizing such natural materials as bark-covered logs and woven straw.

== Azuchi-Momoyama period ==
<gallery>
Image:Himeji Castle The Keep Towers.jpg|Himeji Castle in Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture<Br>Completed in 1618
Image:Osaka Castle - 01.jpg|Osaka Castle in Osaka<Br>Completed in 1598
Image:Nijo Castle.jpg|Ninomaru Palace within Nijo Castle
</gallery>

Two new forms of architecture were developed in response to the militaristic climate of the times: the castle, a defensive structure built to house a feudal lord and his soldiers in times of trouble; and the Kyoto is one of the classic examples of the shoin, with its tokonoma (alcove), shoin window (overlooking a carefully landscaped garden), and clearly differentiated areas for the Tokugawa lords and their vassals.

== Edo period ==
<gallery>
Image:Shokin-tei.jpg|Inside the Shokintei at Katsura Imperial Villa, Kyoto<Br>Built in 17th century
Image:Hirosakijo.jpg|Aomori<Br>Completed in 1611
</gallery>

Prince Genji's palace, contains a cluster of shoin buildings that combine elements of classic Japanese architecture with innovative restatements. The whole complex is surrounded by a beautiful garden with paths for walking. 

The city of Edo was repeatedly struck by fires, leading to the development of a simplified architecture that allowed for easy reconstruction. Because fires were most likely to spread during the dry winters, lumber was stockpiled in nearby towns prior to their onset. Once a fire that had broken out was extinguished, the lumber was sent to Edo, allowing many rows of houses to be quickly rebuilt. Due to the shogun's policy of ''sankin kotai'' ("rotation of services"), the daimyo constructed large houses and parks for their guests' (as well as their own) enjoyment. Kōrakuen is a park from that period that still exists and is open to the public for afternoon walks.