Both Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius early in their respective careers visited Japan. The impact of this experience and therefore upon Modernist architecture was significant. The simplicity of traditional Japanese homes, the dominant use of horizontal and the vertical lines, the stillness and clarity of intention, all clearly informed how their architectural vision would develop. Katsura Rikyu Imperial Villa, a retreat built for a Japanese aristocrat families during the 17th century in Kyoto was a particular influence and model for the Bauhaus and beyond. ‘You cannot imagine what it meant to me to come suddenly face to face with these houses, with a culture still alive, which in the past had already found the answer to many of our modern requirements of simplicity, of out door-indoor relations, of modular coordination, and at the same time, variety of expression, resulting in a common form of language uniting all individual efforts.’

Walter Gropius  “Architecture in Japan”