Katsura Imperial Villa able to create new rooms within the architecture. For instance by moving one fusuma wall, one could transform two rooms into one large room and a small storage closet. In the Katsura Imperial Villa, the fusuma allows the rooms to change and open up to the natural world with exterior decks becoming extensions of the interior and framing views of the landscape. An example of this type of transformation is the moon viewing platform connected to the Old Shoin. Besides these characteristics, there are many traditional Japanese ideas that are used in the Katsura Imperial Villa, like the decorative alcove
Imperial Count By being seated and allowed to cast a shared vote on a Count's bench an imperial count obtained, the "seat and vote" within the Imperial Diet which, combined with Imperial immediacy, made of his chief land holding an Imperial estate ("Reichsstand") and conferred upon him and his family the status of "Landeshoheit", i.e. the semi-sovereignty which distinguished Germany and Austria's high nobility (the "Hochadel") from the lower nobility ("Niederadel"), who had no representation in the Diet and usually answered to an over-lord. Thus the "reichsständische" imperial counts pegged their interests and status to those of the imperial princes. In 1521