A research team led by Professor Yasuo Omi of the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo City University investigated and analyzed about 4,000 cases of temple main halls nationwide, and average years of use of temples in traditional wooden architecture (period from construction to dismantling). For the first time revealed that it will reach 235 years.
While wooden buildings such as Horyuji Temple, which were built more than 1,000 years ago, still exist in Japan, it is said that the average useful life of wooden houses built after the war is about 30 years.Therefore, although it is widely recognized that the life of wooden buildings is short, there is not enough knowledge about the average age of traditional wooden buildings such as temple main halls.
Therefore, the research team calculated the average age of use based on the cases of about 4,000 temple main halls nationwide.As a result, it was found that the national average of the years of use was 235 years, which is more than double the useful life (100 years) of reinforced concrete.As a result, it has been clarified statistically and quantitatively that even a general temple building can withstand a considerable long-term use by performing continuous maintenance.
Until now, wooden buildings have been used only for limited purposes such as detached houses and shrines and temples, but recently new developments such as those used in schools, elderly homes, and commercial facilities have begun.This result is considered to be a new index for the design and maintenance of wooden buildings to be built in the future.
