Isozaki analyses the struggles that Japanese architects have had to create a national identity out of modernity. In the process, he analyses the Ise shrine, the Todai-ji temple & the Katsura Imperial villa. The section headings are: Japan-ness in architecture; a mimicry of origin, Emperor Tenmu's Ise Jingu: consruction of the pure land (jodo), Chogen's rebuilding of Todai-ji: a diagonal strategy, Katsura as envisioned by 'Enshu taste'