JAPANESE MINKA LXXXIX - INTERIORS 30: FORMAL AREAS 6

Generally the zashiki is accompanied on at least one of its sides by an engawa (縁側, often simply en 縁), the perimeter ‘verandah’ space that mediates between interior and exterior in minka. The openings in the wall or walls between the zashiki and the engawa are usually equipped with shо̄ji (障子): sliding partitions consisting of a timber lattice frame with thin translucent paper glued to one side.

Shо̄ji in the external wall of a sukiya-zukuri style building. When shо̄ji are in the external wall, the paper is on the external side.

The word shо̄ji means ‘obstructing thing’ (sawaru mono 障るもの); originally, fusuma (襖, thin, opaque sliding panels clad on both sides with thick paper), timber board partitions (itado 板戸) and other similar room-partitioning fittings (tategu 建具) were all called shо̄ji, and the translucent lattice-and-paper panels that we know as shо̄ji today were called akari-shо̄ji (明り障子, ‘lantern shо̄ji), which is still their formal or ‘correct’ name.

Where an upper and lower zashiki (kami-zashiki 上座敷 and shimo-zashiki 下座敷) are present, the boundary between them is partitioned with fusuma.

A modern house or apartment fitted with shо̄ji on the external window and fusuma between rooms.

The origins of shо̄ji (in the broader sense) are thought to lie in the standing screens (tsui-tate 衝立) and standing folding screens (byо̄bu 屏風) that date back to at least the shinden-zukuri (寝殿造り), the residences of Heian period (Heian jidai 平安時代, 794 - 1185) nobility.

Illustration of a tsui-tate (衝立) shо̄ji, right, and byо̄bu (屏風), left, possibly from the Heian period (Heian jidai 平安時代, 794 - 1185).

A painted standing screen (tsui-tate 衝立).

A standing folding screen (byо̄bu 屏風).

Early shо̄ji were silk-covered (nuno-shо̄ji 布障子 ‘fabric shо̄ji’). At the end of the Heian period, kara-kami shо̄ji (唐紙障子) appeared, covered with ‘Tang paper’ (kara-kami 唐紙) imported from China. In the Kamakura period (Kamakura jidai 鎌倉時代, 1185 - 1333) these spread from the houses of the nobility to upper class residences in general, and in some regions fusuma are still called karakami. Akari-shо̄ji also appeared around this time, but only became more widespread from the Muromachi period (Muromachi jidai 室町時代, 1336 - 1573) on, and then still only in palaces (kyūden 宮殿), Buddhist temples (ji-in 寺院), and the residences of the extreme upper strata of society. For commoners, paper was still a distant luxury.

Fusuma and akari-shо̄ji did not appear in minka until around the middle of the Edo period (Edo jidai 江戸時代 1603 - 1868), but again this was only in relatively affluent minka in the more advanced and sophisticated regions of the country. In mountain villages and low socio-economic status minka, exterior openings consisted of paper directly applied to kiri-mado (切り窓, ‘cut window’, slot-like openings cut into wall boards), shita-ji mado (下地窓, areas of wattle-and-daub wall where the daub is omitted, exposing the wattle) or fixed timber lattice (kо̄shi 格子); even where they existed, akari-shо̄ji were limited to only the main or formal rooms of the dwelling, such as the zashiki.

Two papered shita-ji mado (下地窓) in the wall of a building, possibly a tea-house, in the refined sukiya-zukuri (数寄屋造り) style. The windows are provided with external hooks to hang shutters from.

Kiri-mado (切り窓, ‘cut window’) in the wall of a timber-clad minka.

JAPANESE MINKA LXXXVIII - INTERIORS 29: FORMAL AREAS 5

Like the tokonoma, the toko-waki (床脇, lit. ‘toko flank’) is an alcove, but where the tokonoma is purely ornamental, the toko-waki combines an ornamental role with functionality. As the name suggests, the toko-waki is located next to the tokonoma and in the same wall; it is on the other side of the tokonoma to the shoin. The toko-waki typically contains some combination of upper suspended cupboards or cabinets (tenbukuro todana 天袋戸棚, lit. ‘heaven bag door shelf’), an open shelf (tana 棚) or shelves, and lower cabinets (chibukurotodana 地袋戸棚, lit. ‘earth bag door shelf’).

In this modern zashiki, the tokonoma (床の間) is between the toko-waki (床脇) and the shoin (書院), which is conventional, but there is also a closet (oshi-ire 押入) in the same wall, which detracts from the shoin-toknoma-tokowaki composition.

The toko-waki also shares with the tokonoma a likely origin in the residences of Buddhist priests (sо̄bо̄ 僧房, lit. ‘priest chamber’), specifically in the shelves used to store sutras (kyо̄kan 経巻). It has also been suggested that the toko-waki began as a two-tier shelf used to hold everyday items, or as a piece of moveable furniture something like the ‘fan shelf’ (sensu-dana 扇子棚) that eventually evolved into a built-in permanent fixture. The toko-waki is decorated with various craft items, and is also a place to store the valuable works of art, vases, etc. that are displayed in the tokonoma.

A ‘fan shelf’ (sensu-dana 扇子棚).

Elements of the toko-waki labelled: the upper cabinet or cupboard (ten-bukuro 天袋) and ‘head’ (kamoi 鴨居), staggered shelves (chigai-dana 違棚) with ‘shrimp post’ (ebi-tsuka 海老束) and ‘brush return’ (fude-kaeshi), lower cabinet (ji-bukuro 地袋) with sill (oki-jikii 置敷居) and half-post or end-post (hо̄date 方立 or han-tsuka 半束), and ‘ground board’ (ji-ita 地板),

The design of the toko-waki is extremely free, and there are over a hundred different ‘templates’ (hinagata 雛形). A single shelf (tana 棚) running the full width of the tokowaki is called a tо̄shi-dana (通し棚, lit. ‘passing shelf’) or hitomoji-dana (一文字棚, lit. ‘one character shelf’, from its resemblance to the character hito 一). The shelf style most commonly associated with the toko-waki is known as chigai-dana (違い棚, ‘staggered shelf’): two shelves arranged one above the other and offset in a ‘mist pattern’ (kasumi-gata 霞型).

Mist pattern (kasumigata 霞型).

In this style, a turned-up strip of moulding called a (fude-kaeshi 筆返し, lit. ‘brush return’) is attached to the end of the upper shelf, which is supported off the lower shelf by a vertical piece called the ebi-tsuka (海老束, lit. ‘shrimp post’). Other styles include han-dana (半棚, ‘half shelf’), tsuka-tana (束棚, ‘post shelf’), tsuri-dana (釣り棚, ‘fishing shelf’), and sumi-tana (隅棚, ‘corner shelf’). Similarly, the cabinets may run the full width of the toko-waki, or be half-width. The rear wall of the toko-waki might contain a window in any number of styles.

Elements of the chigai-dana (違棚): ‘brush return’ (fude-kaeshi 筆返し) with ‘stop’ (tomari とまり) and ‘pigeon breast’ (hato-mune 鳩胸), ‘shrimp post’ (ebi-tsuka 海老束).

In minka, the toko-waki might be absent, with the tatami floor extended to the wall; alternatively, there may be a Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇), or, in more recent minka, a closet (oshi-ire 押入) occuppying the alcove in place of the toko-waki. Sometimes the walls surrounding the tokotoma and toko-waki are not earth walls (dokabe 土壁) or plaster-finished, but are lined with paper of the same kind as is used on the thin opaque sliding partitions called fusuma (襖). This style is called hari-tsuke (貼付け, lit. ‘pasting’ ‘sticking’ or ‘attaching’), and is mainly found in higher-class residences.

A ‘Kansai style’ (Kansai-fū 関西風) zashiki with something of a sukiya-style (sukiya-fū 数寄屋風) flavour. The toko-waki is absent, or at least devoid of any of the elements of a typical toko-waki, and the tatami extends to the rear wall. Okuda family (Okuda-ke 奥田家) residence, О̄saka, an Important Cultural Property.

A fairly ‘classic’ zashiki layout with tokonoma, shoin, and tokowaki. Masuda family (Masuda-ke 増田家) home, Wakayama Prefecture, an Important Cultural Property.

This toko-waki has upper cabinet (ten-bukuro) and a half-width lower cabinet (ji-bukuro) with fude-kaeshi. Sakurai family (Sakurai-ke 桜井家) residence, Ishikawa Prefecture

A contemporary zashiki with a minimal toko-waki (left), marked only by its floor board and low ‘ceiling’.

The tokonoma and toko-waki (out of frame to the right) in this zashiki are paper-hung (hari-tsuke 貼付け), as evidenced by the visible rippling in the paper in the tokonoma.

JAPANESE MINKA LXXXVII - INTERIORS 28: FORMAL AREAS 4

After examining the tokonoma in the last few posts, this week and next we will look at the two elements that flank the tokonoma in the ‘standard’ zashiki: the shoin and the toko-waki. This week’s post will consider the former.

The shoin first appeared in the residences or residential quarters of Buddhist priests (sо̄bо̄ 僧房) as an ‘office’ or ‘study’ for copying sutras and reading. It was never a room in itself, however, but a windowed alcove projecting out into the ‘verandah’ (engawa 縁側), with an inbuilt desk. This was called a dashifu dzukue (出府机 or 出文机, lit. ‘project office desk’ or ‘project writing desk’), idashifumi dana (出文棚, lit. ‘project writing shelf’), etc., and is thought to have first appeared in the Kamakura Period (Kamakura jidai 鎌倉時代, 1185 - 1333). It became fashionable to decorate the shoin with inkstones (suzuri 硯), brushes and ink (筆墨 hitsuboku) ‘letter boxes’ (fubako 文箱) and other stationary items; eventually the shoin itself was integrated into the design of the tokonoma and developed into an important decorative element in the zashiki in its own right.

The shoin is almost always built into the wall flanking the tokonoma, and so is perpendicular to the tokonoma. A width (or length) of one ken (1.81 metres) is typical, and served the original purpose of the shoin as a desk. Older style shoin usually start at the tokonoma sill, with the flanking wall of the tokonoma left blind, which may mean that the tokonoma doesn’t receive enough light. This problem can be addressed by bringing the shoin into the tokonoma, so that the shoin window becomes part of the tokonoma flanking wall. The half-ken part of the shoin in the tokonoma is called the kakekomi (駈けこみ ‘advancing in’).

Where there is a mawari-en (回り縁) or ‘wraparound verandah’, there are rare occasions where the shoin is built alongside the tokonoma, so shoin and tokonoma face the same direction.

The ‘classic’ shoin projects out into the engawa and is called de-shoin (出書院, ‘projecting shoin’) or tsuke-shoin (付書院 ‘attached shoin’). The simplified or abbreviated non-projecting style of shoin is known as hira-shoin (平書院 ‘flat shoin’). The hira-shoin may even dispense with the ‘desk’ (kо̄-ita 甲板) element altogether, leaving only the window.

The shoin window normally presents with a lattice-and-paper transom or a carved ita-ranma (板欄間) transom fitted in its upper section. In the ‘standard’ shoin, the lower, main opening is four shо̄ji, but variants such as the round window (maru-mado 丸窓), ‘horn frame window’ (tsunogara-mado 角柄窓), ‘flame window’ (katо̄-mado 火灯窓 or 花頭窓), and ‘wattle window’ (shitaji-mado 下地窓) are also employed. Alternate names for the shoin include akari-shoin (明り書院, ‘lantern shoin’), shoin-doko (書院床), etc. In Yamagata Prefecture there are areas where akari-doko is abbreviated to aka-doko.

The tokonoma (left) and shoin (書院, right) of an older-style zashiki, in which tokonoma, as here, are generally shallow. The projection of the de-shoin (出書院) is roughly the same depth as that of the tokonoma. The shо̄ji of this shoin have ‘wainscot panels’ (koshi-ita 腰板) and are in the fuki-yose (吹寄せ) style, meaning they feature grouped (in this case doubled and tripled) ‘muntins’ (san 桟). Naka family (Naka-ke 中家), Nara Prefecture, designated an Important Cultural Property.

A contemporary zashiki with a traditional design. The de-shoin or tsuke-shoin is in the kakekomi (駈け込み) style: beginning at the rear wall of, and half within, the tokonoma.

Here the shoin is a half-length hira-shoin with only its kake-komi part; it has essentially been reduced to a window in the tokonoma.

A contemporary zashiki. There is a hira-shoin in kake-komi style, but the toko-waki (the alcove flanking the tokonoma) also has aspects of a de-shoin, featuring a low desk-like shelf and shouji window instead of the usual shelves and cabinets.

A round window (maru-mado 丸窓) kake-komi hira-shoin.

A contemporary zashiki with full-length (one ken or 1.81m) tsuke-shoin featuring fine latticework shouji and transom panel (ranma 欄間).

A tsuke-shoin in kake-komi style with a ‘flame window’ (katо̄-mado 火灯窓). Yanohara family (Yanohara-ke 矢篦原家) house, formerly Gifu Prefecture, now in Sankei Gardens (Sankei-en 三渓園), Yokohama City.

The de-shoin or tsuke-shoin as it appears from the engawa.

In something of a restoration of the original function of the shoin as an ‘office’, in this zashiki a low table, perhaps used for writing letters or practising calligraphy, has been placed up against the hira-shoin.

Here the shoin (left) occupies the place normally held by the toko-waki; conversely, one could say that the toko-waki has a shoin-like design.

JAPANESE MINKA LXXXVI - INTERIORS 27: FORMAL AREAS 3

To continue on from last week’s post on the ornamental alcove (tokonoma 床の間 or toko 床) of the formal room (zashiki 座敷) of the minka, today we will consider some aspects of tokonoma design.

In the standard zashiki layout, the ‘verandah’ (engawa 縁側) and ‘study’ (shoin 書院) are to the right of the tokonoma, and to its left is the toko-waki (床脇, lit. ‘toko flank’) alcove, which often contains a shelf or shelves, particularly the characteristic ‘staggered shelves’ called chigai-dana (違い棚), and upper cabinets (tenbukuro 天袋). This ‘correct’ tokonoma layout is called hon-doko (本床, ‘true toko’); the opposite arrangement, with engawa and shoin on the left and toko-waki on the right, is called gyaku-toko (逆床, ‘reverse toko’), but is probably just as common.

A zashiki in hon-doko configuration, with toko-waki to the left of the tokonoma, and shoin to the right.

The interior ‘facade’ elevation of a zashiki, in gyaku-toko configuration, with the toknoma (床の間) on the left, the shoin (書院) to the left of the tokonoma, and the toko-waki (床脇) to the right..

The element of the tokonoma that most draws the eye is the toko post (toko-bashira 床柱), which conventionally stands in the centre of the ‘front’ elevation of the room.

Another gyaku-toko configuration. The toko post (toko-bashira 床柱) which occupies a prominent position at or near the centre of the field of view. Other main elements of the tokonoma are labelled: The toko sill (toko-gamachi 床框); the ‘sill stump’ (kamachi-zuka 框束); the toko board (toko-ita 床板); the ‘skirting board’ (zoukin-zuri 雑巾摺); the floor board in front of the toko (ji-ita); and the toko head timber (otoshi-kake 落掛).

In strictly formal zashiki, the toko-bashira is a large-section square post, but in minka it might be a sugi (杉, Cryptomeria japonica) post, perhaps in a style called men-kawa-bashira (面皮柱, ‘face skin post’), where a log is partially squared off into four faces, leaving the natural rounded corners; a ‘scaffold pole’ (shiba maruta しば丸太, lit. ‘firewood log’); or some other informal, eccentric (henboku 変木, lit. ‘strange timber’) or ‘name’ (meiboku 名木, lit. ‘name timber’) variety of post.

Squared log posts (centre) known as men-kawa bashira (面皮柱).

Very finely finished toko-bashira on display.

A selection of henboku (変木) toko-bashira, ranging from plain to what might almost be termed baroque.

A selection of high-end toko-bashira from a supplier’s catalogue. The sugi post in the lower right corner costs 1,800,000 yen for a 150mm diameter, 2,950mm long post: about $12,000 USD at the 2025 exchange rate.

In the wall behind the toko-bashira, between the tokonoma and the tokowaki, there will often be a low opening called the chin-kuguri (狆潜り, lit. ‘Pekingese underpass’) whose purpose is to throw more light into the tokowaki.

In a conventional tokonoma design, the chin-kuguri (ちんくぐり) opening between the tokonoma and toko-waki is around 40 - 60cm high.

A somewhat garish chin-gukuri made with a section of hollow log.

The front bulkhead wall (tare-kabe 垂れ壁, lit. ‘hang down wall’) above the tokonoma opening is terminated with a kamoi (鴨居) or ‘head timber’ called the otoshi-gake (落とし掛); the otoshi-gake is set at a higher position than the kamoi in the rest of the room, which imparts to it a dignified aspect, and also gives a clearer view of a hanging scroll in the alcove. The otoshi-gake may be only slightly higher than the nageshi, or it may be significantly higher, as in the example below.

In this example, the tokonoma head timber, known as the otoshi-gake (落とし掛) is set significantly higher than the regular head ‘lintel’ (kamoi 鴨居) and picture rail (nageshi) that run around the rest of the zashiki at ‘head datum’ (uchi-nori 内法) height. The effect of the chin-kuguri in bringing more light into the toko-waki is evident here.

When the zashiki is run around with a ‘picture rail’ (nageshi 長押), the point where the nageshi meets and terminates at the tokobashira the can be resolved via various devices, such as the old-fashioned makura-sabaki (枕捌き, lit. ‘pillow handling’) or the hina-dome (雛止め, lit. ‘chick stop’); today the junction is typically handled with what is known as kiri-me dou-tsuki (切目胴突 or 切目胴付き), where the nageshi is extended across 7/10ths the width of the face of the tokobashira.

Illustration of three methods for resolving the termination of the nageshi at the toko-bashira. Left, the makura-sabaki (枕さばき, lit. ‘pillow handling’); centre, the kata-sabaki (片さばき, lit. ‘part handling’); right, the hina-dome (ひな留め, lit. ‘chick stop’).

Three methods of resolving the nageshi, shown in plan view.

Image showing a hina-dome nageshi being prepared; the exposed end is given a ‘cap’ so the face grain returns around the end of the timber

The nageshi with end ‘cap’ installed.

The nageshi in place against the tokobashira. In the kiri-me dou-tsuki (切目胴突 or 切目胴付き) style, the nageshi is extended across 7/10ths the width of the face of the tokobashira.

In the makura-sabaki style, the nageshi wraps around the toko-bashira to terminate on its rear face.

The floor sill (kamachi 框) of the toko, called the toko-kamachi or toko-gamachi (床框), is often around 12 - 18cm high, thus the floor of the toko is also this much higher than the tatami floor of the zashiki itself. In the country and in older minka it is generally even higher, with a toko floor consisting of a thick board, known as ita-doko (板床, lit. ‘board floor’) and a kekomi-ita (蹴込み板, lit. ‘kick-in board’) between it and the tatami.

Toko sills (kamachi 框) are conventionally finished in black lacquer (kuro-urushi-nuri　黒漆塗り), called also roiro-gamachi (ろいろ框), but hardwood sills with a ‘rubbed lacquer’ (suri-nushi 摺り漆) finish are also found; a more informal style might employ a log with the thick stumps of the lopped branches (太枝落し futoeda otoshi) still on it.

As mentioned, the classic floor of the standard toko is normally laid with tatami; this style is known as hon-doko (本床), not to be confused with the hon-doko discussed above, which refers to the ‘handedness’ of the zashiki. Usuberi tatami (薄縁畳, lit. ‘thin edge tatami’), tatami with a thin edging of patterned fabric), and ita-datami (板畳, lit. ‘board tatami’, not actually tatami at all, but a section of boarded floor in an otherwise tatami-laid room) are also found. In the countryside, thick planks of Japanese zelkova (keyaki 欅, Zelkova serrata), Japanese horse chestnut (tochinoki, Aesculus turbinata) or sawtooth oak (kunugi, Quercus acutissima), both written 橡, or pine (matsu 松) with an interesting grain or figure (moku 杢) were favoured.

A tokonoma featuring an usuberi tatami floor, a squared log toko-gamachi with stained upper surface and natural rounded face, and a wide, finely grained jiban.

An ita-datami (‘board tatami’) floored tokonoma. The sill edge of the board terminates at the wall against a ‘sill stump’ (kamachi-dzuka 框束).

The ceiling over the tokonoma is higher than that of the main ceiling of the room, so as to be able to accommodate long scrolls, and so it is not visible when sitting before the toko with its high otoshi-kake. It often consists of a single board of figured timber (mokuita 杢板), known as a kagami-tenjou (鏡天井, ‘mirror ceiling’).

The rear face of the ‘bulkhead’ wall (tare-kabe 垂れ壁) above the otoshi-kake is left unfinished (ara-kabe 荒壁, ‘rough wall’).

An example of walls in their ara-kabe 荒壁 state, with base ‘daub’ plaster applied but before the application of the finish plaster (shikkui 漆喰). The rear, generally unseen side of the bulkhead (tare-kabe) of the tokonoma is left in this state, without finish plaster.

It is said that this inclusion in tokonoma design of an element that is ‘lacking’ is not the result of laziness or frugality, but a deliberate symbolic recognition of the sentiment expressed in the saying mitsureba kaku (満れば欠く), or in full tsuki mitsureba sunawachi kaku (月満つれば則ち虧く), ‘The full moon must (surely) wane’: perfection is futile, decay is inevitable, and all things are impermanent.

Interior of a zashiki furnished with tokonoma, tokowaki with chigai-dana and tenbukuro, and shoin. Masuda family (Masuda-ke 増田家) house, Wakayama Prefecture, designated an Important Cultural Property.

A ‘Kansai style’ (Kansai-fū 関西風) zashiki with a hint of the sukiya style (sukiya-fū 数寄屋). Sukiya construction (数寄屋造り sukiya-zukuri) is a refined architectural style of mannered rusticity and deliberate austerity that arose out of tea house architecture, and emphasises the natural qualities of materials over opulence and ornament. There is no picture rail (nageshi); the toko post (toko-bashira) is a squared log (men-kawa bashira); the toko-waki is tatami-floored and without shelves or cabinets.

JAPANESE MINKA LXXXV - INTERIORS 26: FORMAL AREAS 2

As covered in the previous series on minka structure, the structural logic of Japanese buildings results in two spatial zones: an inner jо̄ya (上屋, lit. ‘upper building/roof’) part, which is the area bounded within the ring of taller, inner posts (hashira 柱) called jо̄ya-bashira (上屋柱); and the geya (下屋, lit. ‘lower building/roof’), the outer, perimeter space between the jо̄ya-bashira and the ring of lower, outer posts (geya-bashira 下屋柱) that constitute the external perimeter of the building, whether in the plane of the external walls or as freestanding ‘verandah’ posts. The geya might be thought of as an infilled under-eave area, floored and walled to bring the space within the interior. The jо̄ya - geya spatial organisation is the result of the structural organisation of the building; in terms of residential architecture, it originated with the shinden (寝殿), the residential architecture of Heian period (Heian jidai 平安時代 794 - 1185) nobility.

Diagrammatic section and plan of a shinden, showing the two rings of posts that delineate the inner moya (母屋, lit. ‘mother building/roof’) space, corresponding to the jо̄ya of the minka, and the outer hisashi (庇, ‘eave’) space, corresponding to the geya.

Like the shinden, old minka often had geya on all four sides, with rows of jо̄ya posts at the boundary between the jо̄ya and the geya, as seen in the famous Furui house below.

Plan of the former Furui family (Furui-ke 古井家) residence, Hyо̄go Prefecture, a three-room layout minka, showing the jо̄ya (上屋) space (white), and the geya (下屋) space (the blue perimeter band). In this relatively primitive minka, the geya space has largely not been rationally incorporated into the plan to form closets, etc.; rather, the jо̄ya posts are for the most part freestanding in the interior spaces.

Transverse section of the Furui house, with geya shown in blue.

Longitudinal section of the Furui house, with the geya shown in blue.

In the spacious shinden, the wide geya formed a natural circulatory passageway around the inner moya; utilitarian functions like storage were taken up by other buildings in the shinden complex, so the shinden plan itself could remain architecturally ‘pure’. The narrower geya of the minka might also partially function as a circulation space, i.e. as the ‘verandah’ (engawa 縁側), but it was often used to house utilitarian elements that could practically fit within its depth; or perhaps it was rather the case that these elements evolved to fit within the geya. They included shelved cupboards (todana 戸棚), closets (oshi-ire 押入), the Buddhist alcove (butsuma 仏間), and the ornamental alcove (tokonoma 床の間 or toko 床) that is the subject of this post.

In this Muromachi period minka, the development of a tokonoma is hinted at in the utilisation of the geya space in the omote to house the Buddhist altar (butsudan), Shintо̄ shrine, and other ornamental items. Furui family (Furui-ke 古井家) house, Hyо̄go Prefecture, designated an Important Cultural Property.

The plan below is a good example of how the geya space was utilised in minka. The toko (とこ) is placed in the gable-end (tsuma 妻) geya, along with a Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇) and other objects related to worship and ceremony.

The geya space in this minka is more typical than that of in the Furui house in that here, as in most minka, it is partial or ‘broken’, not running the full circumference of the building. It contains ornamental alcove (toko とこ), Buddhist alcove (butsuma 卍), bath (nyūyoku 入浴), storage (shūnо̄ 収納), urinal (shо̄ben 小便), and verandah (engawa, unlabelled).

Examples like the minka above are used to argue in favour of the theory that the tokonoma has religious origins. This theory, which has become a commonly believed ‘myth’ through its presentation in works such as the Edo period Ka-oku Zakkou (家屋雑考 ‘Miscellaneous Thoughts on Houses’, 1845) by Sawada Natari (沢田 名垂, 1775 - 1845), is that the tokonoma began in the Kamakura period (Kamakura jidai 鎌倉時代, 1185 - 1333) in the shaku-ke or shakke (釈家), the residences of Buddhist priests or monks (sо̄ 僧), who would hang Buddhist art on the wall, place a thick board called an oshi-ita (押板) on the floor before it, and on the oshi-ita place the ‘three-piece set’ (mitsugusoku 三具足) of candlestick (shokudai 燭台), incense burner (kо̄ro 香炉), and vase (kabin 花瓶); this arrangement was later adopted into samurai residences (buke jūtaku 武家住宅).

Another account of the origins of the tokonoma holds that it developed as a place to appreciate the scroll art (jiku-sо̄ga 軸装画) imported from China in large volumes from the Kamakura Period onward.

A third theory is that the jо̄dan-koma (上段小間), the small raised rooms ‘within’ the zashiki, gradually simplified and shrank over time to become tokonoma, called among other names the jо̄dan-doko (上段床), that retained both the tatami-laid floor elevated a step above the zashiki and the black lacquered (kuro urushi-nuri 黒漆塗り) floor sill (kamachi 框) of its progenitor and namesake.

This third account is thought by Kawashima Chūji to be the most rational and persuasive; even today, the floor of a ‘standard’ toko is typically tatami-laid, and Kawashima writes of hearing that on certain occasions, such as tea ceremony, a distinguished guest might sit in the toko without this being considered a breach of etiquette. It is thought that later, with the development of the arts and crafts (bijutsu kо̄gei 美術工芸) in general, and the ‘ways’ (dо̄ 道) and schools (ryū 流) of tea ceremony (sadо̄ 茶道), flower arrangement (kadо̄ 華道), and incense appreciation (kо̄dо̄ 香道) in particular, that the tokonoma transformed into a place exclusively for the appreciation of interior decorative objects (shitsunai sо̄shihin 室内装飾品). Then, over the course of time and with the addition of increasingly sophisticated woodworking techniques and proportion in design, the tokonoma spread almost universally to the common minka, in the process becoming an indispensable element of the zashiki, and the one most closely associated with it.

JAPANESE MINKA LXXXIV - INTERIORS 25: FORMAL AREAS 1

After looking at the features of the ‘living room’ (hiroma 広間) and the somewhat more formal ‘drawing room’ (dei 出居) of the minka, from this week we will consider the elements typically found in, and characteristic of, the formal room proper: the zashiki (座敷).

The regular or ‘classic’ zashiki draws its design elements from the stream of the shoin-zukuri (書院造り), the residential architectural style of the Muromachi era (Muromachi jidai 室町時代, 1336 -1573) samurai (bushi 武士) class, and was furnished with a decorative alcove (tokonoma 床の間, often abbreviated to toko 床), ornamental shelves (tana 棚), and shoin (書院, a decorative ‘study' or ‘desk' alcove adjacent to the toko) as a general rule. Then a picture rail (nageshi 長押) was run around the room above the ‘door’ heads (kamoi 鴨居), with ornamental hardware (kugi-kakushi 釘隠し, lit. ‘nail hider’) attached; and ornamental panels inserted into the transom (ranma 欄間) between rooms. These panels might be kumiko (組子, geometric patterns formed with tiny pieces of timber), fretwork, or ita-ranma (板欄間), thin boards of around 12 mm thick carved with images or patterns. The ceiling ( tenjо̄ 天井) is sao-buchi tenjо̄ (竿縁天井), a ceiling of thin timber boards on exposed battens (sao-buchi 竿縁).

A zashiki seen from the ‘second room’ (tsugi-no-ma 次の間), showing ornamental alcove (toko-no-ma 床の間), ‘study’ alcove (shoin 書院), squared-log post (men-kawa bashira 面皮柱), picture rail (nageshi 長押) with ornamental ‘nail hiders’ (kugi-kakushi 釘隠し), and fine carved transom panels (ranma 欄間) between the rooms and between the tsugi-no-ma and ‘verandah’ (engawa 縁側). Yoshimura house (Yoshimura-ke 吉村家), О̄saka Prefecture, designated an Important Cultural Property.

The ‘facade’ interior elevation of a large, high-ceilinged zashiki. A good archetypal example, with: decorative alcove (tokonoma 床の間), left, displaying hanging scroll; a ‘flanking alcove’ (toko-waki 床脇), centre right, with staggered shelves (chigai-dana 違い棚) and upper cabinets (tenbukuro 天袋); a ‘study’ or ‘desk’ (shoiin 書院), right; a fine lattice transom (ranma 欄間), top left, above the entry opening; a picture rail (nageshi 長押) running around the room at head datum (uchi-nori 内法) height; an ornamental metal ‘nail hider’ (kugi-kakushi 釘隠し) on the nageshi where it meets the tokonoma post (toko-bashira 床柱); and a board and batten (sao-buchi 竿縁) ceiling.

Another zashiki, with many of the same elements shown in the zashiki above. The half-glazed shо̄ji, left, indicate this to be a relatively modern example.

In the prototypical or archetypal minka layout, there is no true formal zashiki, but even in simply-partitioned minka without a formal room, the word zashiki was sometimes used as the name of the everyday living room, elsewhere called the hiroma or dei. In the most general sense, zashiki can refer to the raised floor (taka-yuka 高床) living part (kyojū bubun 居住部分) of the dwelling, as opposed to the earth-floored utility space (doma 土間).

With rising living standards and the emergence of an economic surplus, formal zashiki came to be constructed in the houses of commoners in imitation of the upper classes, but these ‘aspirational’ zashiki were unreflective of the lifestyles of the still-impoverished farmers who installed them; often the tatami mats, so characteristic of zashiki, were taken up and left unused, indicating that in everyday use the room was being employed for less-than-formal purposes, and the inhabitants wanted to protect the valuable tatami from damage. Even if the zashiki contained a tokonoma, it might not have been used to display any of the decorative art or craft works found in the tokonoma of wealthier homes. At best there might be a hanging scroll (jiku 軸) dedicated to the god Amaterasu О̄kami (天照皇太神); at worst the tokonoma might have even fallen to the status of a place to store the tatami mats.

There were many regions in which some or all of the above-described elements of the typical zashiki were prohibited by sumptuary law from being installed in the houses of peasants, farmers, or general commoners, effectively meaning that the zashiki itself was forbidden to these social classes. But the frequency with which these regulations were issued suggests that people were constantly building these features anyway, in defiance of the law. We can sympathise with these farmers, living under an enforced and artificial austerity, wanting to beautify their homes or ‘keep up with the Joneses’, even to the point of risking presumably harsh punishments.

In constrast, important figures such as village headmen and ‘chief executives’ (肝煎 kimo-iri) were obliged to receive or entertain officials (yakunin 役人) of the samurai class in the course of their duties, so zashiki were a necessity in their homes, and facilities such as toko and tana were permitted to them. It was not unusual for such zashiki to also contain a jо̄dan no ma (上段の間), a ‘room within a room’ whose floor level is a step above the floor level of the zashiki. In addition to the toko and tana, there would normally also be a shoin, picture rail (nageshi), ‘wraparound verandah’ (mawari-en 回り縁), and perhaps a separate ‘upper toilet (kami-benjo or uwa-benjo 上便所). The mawari-en served as the formal entrance and exit for officials, doctors and others.

The zashiki in the typical four-room layout farmhouse minka occupies the upper (kami-te 上手, i.e. furthest from the doma), facade-side (omote-gawa 表側) quadrant; in hiroma-gata layouts, both upper rooms may be zashiki, called kagi-zashiki (鍵座敷), perhaps with one built as an extension off the main structure, forming the rear leg of an L-planform. A toko built against the uppermost gable end (tsuma 妻) or short-side wall is called a tsuma-doko (妻床, ‘gable-end toko); if built at the rear of the zashiki, on the partition wall with the bedroom (nando 納戸), it is called a hira-doko (平床, lit. ‘flat toko’). In the case of kagi-zashiki, the upper and lower zashiki are open to one another and together take up the whole width of the building from facade to rear, so the toko is often a hira-doko, built on the rear wall of the rear zashiki. Shо̄ji (障子, translucent paper-covered timber lattice sliding panels) or fusuma (襖, light, opaque sliding panels) were used at the boundary between two zashiki, but between zashiki and everyday living spaces such as the oe (おえ) or hiroma (ひろま), obi-to (sliding partitions of solid timber panels with a mid rail) were used, indicating that women in labour and menses (akafujou 赤不浄, lit. ‘red unclean’), those in mourning (kurofujou 黒不浄 lit. ‘black unclean’), and people of low status were not enter the zashiki without good reason.

A regular four-room layout (seikei yon-madori 整形四間取り), showing the zashiki (ざしき) in the upper (furthest from the earth-floored utility area niwa にわ) front (facade-side) quadrant, with gable-end (tsuma 妻) decorative alcove (toko とこ), called a tsuma-doko (妻床), and adjacent Buddhist alcove (butsuma 仏間). Toko and butsuma are contained in a lean-to structure outside the perimeter of the main building.

Another example of a gable-end toko (tsuma-dokoi 妻床), this time in a ‘perpendicular stagger’ (yoko-chigai-gata 横違い型) four-room layout (yon-madori 四間取り). The blind gable end (tsuma 妻) is entirely taken up with toko (とこ) and butsuma (卍) in the zashiki, and closet (oshi-ire 押入) in the rear bedroom (oku おく).

This regular four-room layout shows the minka in its original form, with a Buddhist alcove (butsuma, 卍) and cupboard (todana 戸棚) between the zashiki (ざしき) and bedroom/storage room (nando なんど); later a gable-end toko (tsuma-doko 妻床) was added as a lean-to structure, shown as a dashed line outside the exterior wall line of the main building.

This ‘wrapped hiroma’ (tori-maki hiroma-gata 取巻き広間型) layout, originally a front-zashiki three-room layout (mae-zashikisan-madori 前座敷三間取り) to which a rear kagi-zashiki (here ‘upper zashiki’ kami-zashiki かみざしき) has been added. This example solves the problem of where to place the tokonoma by omitting it.

A minka with two zashiki: the front zashiki, here called toba-no-ma (とばのま), and the rear kagi-zashiki, here called the oku (おく). The oku contains a long-side toko (hira-doko 平床), and next to it a storage closet (mono-ire ものいれ). The Buddhist alcove (butsuma, marked with swastika manji 卍), is in the room named zashiki (ざしき), which confusingly is not the formal room; at best it is semi-formal, used for courting/socialising (kousai 交際) but also for rearing silkworms (chisan shi-iku 稚蚕飼育).

Another example of a kagi-zashiki layout, this one regular (seikei 整形), with front zashiki (mae-no-zashiki まえのざしき) and rear zashiki (oku-zashiki 奥座敷). Here, the name mae-no-zashiki actually covers two rooms: the formal zashiki proper in the front upper quadrant, and a less formal ‘living room’ (ima 居間) in the front lower quadrant, adjacent to the earth-floored utility area (daidoko だいどこ). A wraparound verandah (mawari-en 回り縁) connects these three rooms; in the oku-zashiki there is a shoin, here called an akadoko (アカドコ), next to the toko, projecting out into the mawari-en.

In the postwar period, even in normal farmhouses, the tatami mats in the zashiki were left in place, but the zashiki came to function less as a formal room and more as a living room and bedroom for the elderly members of the household or for children. The tokonoma was even used as a television alcove — a utilitarian echo of the pre-modern practice of using the toko as a place to store tatami mats.

The zashiki of a rustic minka in the Tо̄hoku region. The tokonoma (床の間, left) is bare; the toko-waki (床脇) space next to the tokonoma is occupied by the Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇); there is no ceiling, picture rail (nageshi 長押), or separate ‘attached door heads’ (tsuke-kamoi 付鴨居); instead, grooves to take the sliding partitions are cut directly into the lintel beams. Former residence of the Fujiwara family (Fujiwara-ke 藤原家), Iwate Prefecture, now relocated to the Open Air Museum of Old Japanese Farmhouses (Minka Shuuraku Hakubutsukan 民家集落博物館), О̄saka Prefecture.

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The oshi-ita (押板, lit. ‘pushing board’) is an ornamental element of minka, somewhat similar in appearance and function to the more well-known tokonoma (床の間), the formal ‘ornamental alcove’, but distinct from it in several ways, most immediately by its shallowness. The oshi-ita can be found in the Chūbu and Kantо̄ regions, and is commonly seen in particular in the minka of the Tama hills (Tama kyūryо̄ 多摩丘陸) region of Kanagawa Prefecture.

As the etymology suggests, the oshi-ita was originally a simple, unfixed board that sat on the floor near or against the wall, and on which an inkstone (suzuri 硯) or tray (tanzara 短皿) were placed; later by extension it came to refer to the floor board of a tokonoma or ‘study’ (shoin 書院).

There are those of the opinion that the oshi-ita is the precursor of the tokonoma, but Chūji Kawashima is inclined to think that it is of independent origin.  In minka, the oshi-ita alcove, only the depth of a post, originally had a religious function and significance: ‘prayer talismans’ (kitо̄-satsu 祈祷札 or o-fuda お札) and ritual vessels (saiki 祭器) were placed in it.  Whereas the tokonoma is installed in the formal zashiki, the oshi-ita is is not normally found there, but is located in the ‘living room’ (the hiroma ひろま or dei でい).  Within these rooms, it is commonly placed behind the yoko-za (横座), the seating position at the firepit (irori 囲炉裏) furthest from and facing the earth-floored utility area (doma 土間), and adjoining the decorative bedroom entrance (chо̄dai-gamae 帳台構え).

This oshi-ita (押板), on the left, is in its most conventional position: adjoining the formal bedroom entrance (chо̄dai-gamae 帳台構え) on the right, and behind the master’s seat (yoko-za 横座) at the firepit (irori 囲炉裏). Former residence of the Kitamura family (Kitamura-ke 北村家), Kanagawa Prefecture, now relocated to the Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum (Nihon Minka-en 日本民家園), Kawasaki Prefecture.

In terms of height, the oshi-ita stops at head datum (uchi-nori 内法) height, i.e. the height of the lintels (kamoi 鴨居) of the openings; this is in contrast to the tokonoma, which is slightly taller than the uchi-nori. 

In its position at the boundary of the hiroma or dei and the bedroom (nesho 寝所), the oshi-ita normally runs in the direction of the roof beams (hari-yuki hо̄kо̄ 梁行き方向, i.e. transverse to the long axis of the building), as in the Kitamura house above; in the Kiyomiya house below, the bedroom is on the north side of the dwelling, so the partition wall and thus the oshi-ita run in the direction of the wall beams (keta-yuki houkou 桁行き方向, i.e. parallel to the long axis of the building); the latter example is considered to be an old or antiquated style of oshi-ita. 

An archetypal and rarely-seen style of south-facing oshi-ita, located ‘up’ from the yoko-za seating position at the firepit (irori). Conventionally, the yoko-za faces the doma, which contains the entrance to the dwelling, to the east; here the doma is largely partitioned off and seemingly obscured from the living area, so a south-facing yoko-za that overlooks the unpartitioned part of the doma-living boundary, where people step up from the doma into the living area, is the most logical ‘surveillance position’.

Adjacent to the oshi-ita, and to the left of the lantern in the image, is the bedroom entrance with timber panelled sliding door(s). The oshi-ita is decorated with a flower vase and Buddhist picture scroll. Former Kiyomiya family (Kiyomiya-ke 清宮家) residence, Kanagawa Prefecture; now relocated to the Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum (Nihon Minka-en 日本民家園), Kawasaki Prefecture.

Plan of the Kiyomiya house, showing the south-facing oshi-ita (押板) and bedroom entrance to the rear (north) of the irori (炉) in the ‘living room’ (hiroma ひろま), and the earth-floored utility area (dēdoko でえどこ) to the east. Also shown are the lattice partitions (kо̄shi-mado 格子窓) and the ‘step up sill’ (agari-gamachi 上り框) between the hiroma and the dēdoko

Another view of the oshi-ita in the hiroma of the Kiyomiya house, between the entrance to the ‘drawing room’ (dē でえ) to the left and the entrance to the bedroom (ura-beya うらべや) to the right.

The examples below are both from Toyama Prefecture, where the oshi-ita is called the yoroi-tana (鎧棚, lit. ‘armour shelf’) because in the past it was adorned with armour (yoroi 鎧); the small suspended cabinets (tenbukuro todana 天袋戸棚, lit. ‘heaven bag door shelf’) are status signifiers, indicating the dwelling as the residence of a country samurai (gо̄shi 郷士).

The Kitamura family (Kitamura-ke 北村家) residence, Toyama Prefecture (not to be confused with the Kitamura house from Kanagawa Prefecture above). A high-status oshi-ita (押板), with a shelved upper cabinet (ten-bukuro to-dana 天袋戸棚) and full-width shelf (hito-moji dana 一文字棚). Designated an Important Cultural Property.

This example also has a ten-bukuro upper cabinet, but no intermediate shelf. Murakami family (Murakami-ke 村上家) residence, Toyama Prefecture, designated an Important Cultural Property.

The oshi-ita in the image below has a depth somewhat greater than the depth of the posts; in the mountainous areas of the Kantо̄ region there are districts where this type of oshi-ita is known as a kusundoko (九寸床, lit. ‘nine sun toko’).  Sun is the Japanese ‘inch’, standardised as 30.303 mm, so 9 sun is around 270mm.

On the right is a relatively deep oshi-ita, known as a kusun-doko. Former residence of the Emuki family (Emuki-ke 江向家), Toyama Prefecture; now relocated to the Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum (Nihon Minka-en 日本民家園), Kawasaki Prefecture.

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In contrast to the wall-mounted kami-dana discussed last week, the Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇) is set on the floor. The early custom was to place it beneath the kami-dani in the hiroma, but with the addition of the zashiki it was moved into that room. In old minka without a decorative alcove (tokonoma 床の間), a magnificent butsudan was built in the zashiki, making it an ornamental element in place of the tokonoma. The image below, of the butsudan in the Yamamoto family residence, an important cultural property in Osaka prefecture, shows one such example. Typically, the butsudan was installed into an alcove around 90cm (half a ken) square.

In old rear zashiki (oku-zashiki 奥座敷) without tokonoma, ornamentive attention is given to the front of the butsuma, so it serves as the decorative element in the zashiki. Yamamoto family (Yamamoto-ke 山本家) residence, О̄saka Prefecture.

The butsudan of the Pure Land (Jо̄do Shinshū 浄土真宗) sect of Buddhism were especially large; in areas where that sect was followed, the butsudan alcove (butsuma 仏間) was a two-ken (around 3.6m) wide closet-like space, and often constructed to project out from the rear exterior wall of the zashiki. Building the butsuma as a lean-to (geya 下屋) projecting out from the main footprint of the house ensured that there was no upper floor above it, and so it could not be walked over or stepped on from above.

At the rear of the rear zashiki (oku-zashiki 奥座敷), the Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇) sits in a Buddhist alcove (butsuma 仏間) of around one tatami mat in area. The butsuma is built as a lean-to structure that projects out from the gable-end wall, to ensure that there is no upper floor above it, so the taboo against treading on the floor above the butsudan cannot be broken. This style of butsuma is common in the Hokuriku region. Former residence of the Emuki family (Emuki-ke 江向家), Toyama Prefecture; now relocated to the Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum (Nihon Minka-en 日本民家園), Kawasaki Prefecture.

Pure Land Buddhism thrived in the Hokuriku region; in this and other such areas, a small room of about three tatami mats (around 5m²) called the bо̄sama zashiki (坊様座敷, ‘priest zashiki’ or kyūsoku no ma (休息の間, ‘space of rest’) might be provided for the butsudan.

From the practice of praying the ‘Pure Land in All Directions’ (四方浄土 shihо̄ jо̄do) prayer before the butsudan, it was ideally oriented to face east, so that people sitting before it faced west, but there are also examples of butsudan that face south. In large houses in the Kinai region, the dark part at the centre of the house, the rear of the dei, is often made into a specialised butsuma.

The image below shows the interior of the solemn butsuma in the Kuromaru 黒丸 family house, an important cultural property, on the Noto peninsula in the Hokuriku region. In such houses, there may be a ‘house Buddha’ that is worshipped; these rooms could also be used as dо̄jо̄ (道場) for adherents to assemble in, in place of a village temple.

The butsudan of the Hokuriku region, where the Shinshū sect of Buddhism is popular, are large, and possess a solemn dignity. These spaces also served as meeting places for adherents. Kuromaru family (Kuromaru-ke 黒丸家) residence, Ishikawa Prefecture.

A butsudan and kami-dana installed in the living room (joi 常居) of an L-plan (magari-ya 曲り屋) minka. Nakayashiki family (Nakayashiki-ke 中屋敷家) residence, Iwate Prefecture.

An archetypal and rarely-seen style of south-facing oshi-ita, located ‘up’ from the yoko-za seating position at the firepit (irori). Conventionally, the yoko-za faces the doma, which contains the entrance to the dwelling, to the east; here the doma is largely walled off and obscured from the living area, so a south-facing yoko-za that overlooks the unpartitioned part of the doma-living boundary, where people step up from the doma into the living area, is the most logical ‘surveillance position’.

Adjacent to the oshi-ita, and to the left of the lantern in the image, is the bedroom entrance with timber panelled sliding door(s). The oshi-ita is decorated with a flower vase and Buddhist picture scroll. Former Kiyomiya family (Kiyomiya-ke 清宮家) residence, Kanagawa Prefecture; now relocated to the Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum (Nihon Minka-en 日本民家園), Kawasaki Prefecture.

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The kami-dana (神棚, lit. ‘god/deity shelf’) is just as described: a shelf (tana 棚) whose function is to hold a miniature shrine that enshrines various Shintо̄ gods (kami 神). It is usually installed above the lintel datum (uchi-nori 内法) in the hiroma or dei. The simplest kami-dana consists of nothing more than a board shelf; at a slightly higher level of refinement, a 50 - 60cm deep plastered alcove might be hollowed out in the wall, with folding doors attached to the front. In cases where the roof space above the room was provided with an upper floor (tsushi つし or ama あま), measures were taken to ensure that people did not tread on the area of floor directly above the kami-dana: a paper on which ‘上’ (ue or kami, ‘above’) was written was stuck on this area of floor, or it might also be raised slightly above the level of the surrounding floor. It was also considered preferable to avoid passing under the kami-dana wherever possible.

A magnificent kami-dana in a minka in the Noto region, where there are many such examples. The wall above the picture rail (nageshi 長押) is fully occupied by the seats of various deities. This room is divided from the zashiki and its Buddhist alcove (butsuma 仏間) beyond by austere obito (帯戸, timber panel and mid-rail sliding partitions), indicating that those of low status are not to enter the zashiki. Former Kuromaru (黒丸) family residence, Ishikawa Prefecture.

The walled area above the uchi-nori is considered the seat of the local Shintо̄ guardian deities and other especially favoured gods, a practice seen at, and perhaps originating at, Ise Shrine (Kо̄tai Jingū 皇大神宮) in Mie Prefecture. Ideally the kami-dana faces either east (an outcome of its being installed behind the yoko-za seating position at the irori, which in the typical south-facing house also faces east); or, when found in the dei, south.

Interior of the ‘living room’ (hiroma 広間, here called the omē おめえ), of a minka from Yamagata Prefecture. Below, the Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇) is set back behind timber-panelled doors; above, the kami-dana sits on top of the picture rail (nageshi 長押), with one corner suspended from a beam. Former Shibutani family (Shibutani-ke 渋谷家) residence, now relocated to the Chidо̄ Museum (Chidо̄ Hakubutsukan 致道博物館) in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture.

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As the two characters of the Japanese word kiga (起臥) express, ‘daily life’ (the meaning of the word) consists at its most basic of cycles of ‘standing up/being awake’ (ki 起) and ‘lying down/being asleep’ (ga 臥). In the previous series of posts on sleeping spaces (nema 寝間), we looked at the ways that Japanese domestic architecture serves the ga part of this daily cycle; the next series of posts will examine the spaces that cater to the ki.

Typically, the centre of ‘living’ (kikyo 起居 lit. ‘standing being’) in the minka is the gathering room commonly called the hiroma (広間). The hiroma contains a large firepit (irori 囲炉裏), which is the focus of family dining (shokuji 食事), post-prandial ‘sitting in a circle’ (madoi まどい or danran 団らん), evening handwork (te-shigoto 手仕事), and socialising with neighbours (kinrin no kо̄sai 近隣の交際). So the hiroma has a close relationship with fire and farmwork, and is usually open to the doma-niwa (土間庭, lit. ‘earth space yard’), the indoor earth-floored utility area of the minka, with no partition between them. ‘Indoor yard’ is a more figurative translation that perhaps better captures the essence and function of the doma-niwa, which is usually just called either doma or the niwa.

This open informality of the hiroma, with the character of the family ‘tea room’ (chanoma 茶の間), means that at times there may be reasons to be reluctant to bring a stranger an outsider into it. Because of this, a part of the hiroma on the façade side of the dwelling may be partitioned off to become the room known commonly as the dei (でい), which is somewhat more formal than the hiroma; the European equivalent might be the ‘drawing room', meaning ‘room to withdraw to’. The derivation of the dei from the living space (ima 居間, lit. ‘be awake/up space’) is indicated by the fact that dei can also be written 出居, lit. ‘out of + i(ma). The dei is an ‘entertainment space’ or ‘reception space’ in which the master of the house receive guests, but its level of formality is lower than that of the zashiki, which is also used to formally entertain (settai 接待). Many four-room layout (yon-madori 四間取り) minka have a dei, but in hiroma-type three-room layout (hiroma-gata san-madori 広間型三間取り) houses, the hiroma and dei, and their functions, are combined.

Floor plan of the former Kiyomiya family (Kiyomiya-ke 清宮家) residence, Kanagawa Prefecture, now relocated to the Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture. An illustrative example of a regular four-room layout (seikei yon-madori 整形四間取り), with earth-floored utility area (dē-doko でえどこ), ‘living room’ (hiroma ひろま), rear bedroom (ura-beya うらべや), ‘drawing room’ (dei でい, here dē でえ), and bedroom (heya へや) labelled.

The dē of the Kiyomiya house, much emptier in its museum state than it would have been in use. This particular dē does not have an irori.

The dei will often contain an irori, and, in the wall to the rear of the irori, a Shintо̄ kami-dana (神棚, ‘god shelf’), Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇), and sometimes a shallow decorative alcove known as an oshi-ita (押板). These elements, which we will look at in more detail in subsequent posts, all relate to religious ritual and ceremony: the Shintо̄ and Buddhist deities (shinbutsu 神仏) that protect the house were always present with the family. As the ‘priest’ (shisai 司祭) to these deities, the master of the house has these facilities at his back in his position in the uppermost (saijо̄ 最上) seat (za 座) at the irori, called the yoko-za (横座). From the meaning of ‘in front of the deities’, there are regions in which the hiroma or dei are called the о̄mae (大前, ‘big front’), omē (おめえ), ome (おめ), gozen (御前, ‘honourable front’), okami (おかみ, ‘honorable upper’), and so on.

The zashiki of a rustic minka in the Tо̄hoku region. The tokonoma (床の間, left) is bare; the toko-waki (床脇) space next to the tokonoma is occupied by the Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇); there is no ceiling, picture rail (nageshi 長押), or separate ‘attached door heads’ (tsuke-kamoi 付鴨居); instead, grooves to take the sliding partitions are cut directly into the lintel beams. Former residence of the Fujiwara family (Fujiwara-ke 藤原家), Iwate Prefecture, now relocated to the Open Air Museum of Old Japanese Farmhouses (Minka Shuuraku Hakubutsukan 民家集落博物館), О̄saka Prefecture.

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In previous posts in this series on sleeping arrangements in minka, we have looked mainly at the dedicated bedrooms found in old minka across Japan: small, close, dark spaces, often with no window, and only a small entry to the rest of the house penetrating its otherwise solid walls.

Fast-forward multiple centuries to the Shо̄wa period (Shо̄wa jidai 昭和時代, 1926 - 1989), and there is nothing in particular that could be called a ‘dedicated bedroom’ in the residential vernacular architecture of this era: the habitable rooms or ‘daytime rooms’ (hiru-ma 昼間) are all to some degree universal spaces, with sleeping being only one of their uses. Typically these rooms are characterised by tatami mat floors, built-in closets (oshi-ire 押入), and wide openings in one or two walls, infilled with thin fusuma (襖) or lattice-and-paper or lattice-and-glass shо̄ji (障子) sliding panels.

This and the photograph below show the interior of a typical Shо̄wa period (in this case 1960s) apartment. Note the large built-in closets (oshi-ire 押入), tatami mat floors, and wide openings between rooms (here the sliding fusuma or shouji panels have been removed).

Photograph of the same apartment as above, looking in the other direction towards the tiny kitchen. Either or both of the six-mat rooms would be used as a sleeping place.

This transition was driven to a significant degree by the evolution of Japanese bedding (shingu 寝具), from the primitive woven straw bags and thin boro blankets discussed in previous posts, to the modern cotton-filled futon (布団 or 蒲団). The now-common futon, and its associated storage facilities, have played a central role in the development of minka sleeping spaces.

First, a note on terminology. In English, any thin, non-sprung mattress has come to be known as a futon, which is somewhat ironic given that this was the standard and ubiquitous type of mattress found in Europe before the industrial revolution, when it was simply called ‘mattress’. In Japanese, too, futon is the name given to the thin mattress on which one sleeps (more specifically, this is called the shiki-buton 敷き布団, ‘spread futon’); but it also refers to the ‘comforter’ or ‘duvet’ placed over the body (the kake-buton 掛け蒲団, ‘cover futon’), and can additionally be used to refer to these two items together as a ‘set’.

The cotton plant (wata 綿) has been cultivated in Japan for a long time, but for most of this history the fibre (momen 木綿) was used solely for textiles (ori-mono 織物, ‘weave thing’), and the use of raw cotton (genmen 原綿) as a filling for bedding was a luxury limited to the upper classes. It was only relatively recently, with the mass-importation of cheap foreign cotton that began after the opening up of the country at the end of the Edo period (Edo jidai 江戸時代, 1603-1868) and into the Meiji period (Meiji jidai 明治時代, 1868-1912), that cotton-filled futon began to spread, eventually reaching the remotest mountain villages. But even then, houses with small, dedicated, straw-laid ‘permanent bed’ (man-nen-yuka 万年床) bedrooms that did not adopt futon could still be found in such villages. Occasions that might require tidying up the bedroom, such as a guest staying the night, were extremely rare. In the houses of poor peasants (hyaku-shou 百姓, lit. ‘hundred names’), taking up and cleaning futon was just more labour, for which there was neither the leisure, nor the necessity, nor the storage facilities. In Japan’s humid climate, futon should need to be taken up daily and aired regularly, or eventually mould will develop between the futon and the floor.

The cotton plant (wata 綿) with its balls of fibre (momen 木綿).

Despite exceptions, however, it seems safe to say that most people living under the kind of primitive sleeping conditions described by Suzuki Bokushi and Nishiyama Uzо̄ in previous posts in this series — conditions common until the mid-19th century — would have regarded cotton-filled futon as a great blessing. The old ‘permanent bed’ bedrooms, with no ventilation or light, were breeding grounds for pulmonary tuberculosis, and were targeted for elimination by the ‘lifestyle improvement movements’ (seikatsu kaizen undо̄ 生活改善運動) of the 1920s-1960s. But the material circumstances of these houses — open, drafty, and without any means of heating spaces — and the economic circumstances of their occupants, meant that improvement measures were not easily implemented.

With the advent of the cotton-filled futon, bedrooms gradually became more open, as the futon took over the role of trapping heat — previously fulfilled by bedrooms, which preserve heat within four close and solid walls — by instead holding it closer to the body. With this change, the bedroom transformed into a more comfortable and pleasant space, and such a space is also one that becomes attractive for other purposes. An alternative interpretation is that the bedroom was done away with altogether, and sleeping became a secondary nocturnal function of rooms that had other, primary purposes during the day. For these other activities to occur, however, there had to be a place to store bedding to get it out of the way, and so the closet (oshi-ire 押入) was established as the storage place for the futon.

The futon is much bulkier than the thin boro blanket it replaced, but it remains foldable; an oshi-ire depth (between post centres) of half a ken, or 91 cm, has become standard over time, as it allows enough room for futon to be folded into three and stacked.

In other cases, the shūnо̄ (収納) and nando (納戸), previously storage rooms that were also used as bedrooms, became ‘walk-in closets’, exclusively used for the storage (mono-oki 物置き, lit. ‘thing put’) of futon and other items, as their human inhabitants ‘moved out’ to sleep under warm futon in other parts of the house.

The ‘bedroom’ of the post-war Japanese vernacular dwelling is a world away from those found in the oldest minka.

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Below are two examples of an unusual type of sleeping place, both from the Kansai region: suspended upper floor (tsuri-ni-kai 吊り二階) servants’ bedrooms, built next to the earth-floored utility areas (doma 土間) of their respective dwellings. Both have windows that look out over the main entrance (о̄-doguchi 大戸口, ‘big entrance’) or gatehouse (nagaya-mon 長屋門, ‘long roof gate’), to better allow the servants to keep an eye on who is coming and going.

Entry to this servants’ bedroom in the Oku (奥) family residence, an Important Cultural Property, is via a fixed three-rung ladder that leads up through a trapdoor. The rails of the ladder are formed by two of the wall posts. The semi-circles above each rung appear to be to prevent users’ feet from marking the white plaster wall, possibly by omitting the plaster from these areas, which would also give users’ feet greater depth of purchase on the rungs. With no corner post supporting it, this room is truly suspended. Osaka Prefecture.

Servants’ bedroom in the Yoshimura (吉村) family residence, an Important Cultural Property. Osaka Prefecture.

Bedrooms were also used as delivery rooms (san-shitsu 産室 ‘birth room’, also called ubu-ya 産屋 ‘birth house’ and san-jo 産所 ‘birth place’). The image below shows a bedroom, called the tsubo-ne (つぼね), that was also used as a delivery room, in the Tsurutomi villa (Tsurutomi yashiki 鶴富屋敷), formerly the Nasu family residence (Nasu-ke jūtaku 那須家住宅), in Shiiba village (Shiiba-son 椎葉村) in Miyazaki Prefecture. The building is designated an Important Cultural Property.

View of the tsubo-ne of the Tsurutomi villa.

The house itself is of a type associated with this mountainous area called the ‘pole house’ (sao-ya 竿家), probably because of the resemblance of the long, narrow plan-form to a bamboo pole. The internal layout is of the ‘perpendicular lineup’ type (heiretsu-shiki 並列式), with a single row of rooms arranged on an axis perpendicular to the room-doma boundary (in this area the doma, the earth-floored utility area, is called the doshi).

The floor plan of the Tsurutomi villa with its tsubo-ne (つぼね) combining the functions of bedroom and childbirth room.

Exterior view looking down the facade of the Tsurutomi villa.

Shiiba village (Shiiba-son 椎葉村), Miyazaki Prefecture.

The de (出, ‘emerge, come out’) of the de-beya (出部屋, ‘emerge room’) bedrooms of Yamagata Prefecture also refers to childbirth (出産 shussan). There were regions in which a communal bedroom hut was built outside the village for menstruating women, women in labour, and those who had just given birth. Hiya, heya, ubu-ya, tsubo-ne, etc., are all names that originally referred to a hut of this type.

In the Tо̄hoku region, bedrooms go by such names as nebeya, nebiya, nema, nedoko, and toko. More broadly, heya, nando, oku, etc., are common across the country. The distribution of chо̄da has been previously discussed. In Kyūshū and other southern regions, bedrooms are called nesho, uchi-ne, and tsubo-ne. While bedrooms in these warm-climate areas are understandably open or ‘airy’ today, sleeping customs in these areas in the era before futon are not well understood — but more on that subject next week.

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The chо̄dai (帳台, lit. ‘curtain platform’), also called mi-chо̄dai (御帳台) and mi-chо̄ (御帳), was an interior element of Heian Period (Heian jidai 平安時代, 794 - 1185) classical architecture. Essentially a ‘room within a room’, it consisted, as the name suggests, of a raised platform (dai 台), laid with tatami mats, with a frame of posts and beams over which were hung curtains (tobari 帳), the whole thing somewhat resembling a room-sized four-poster bed. It functioned as a sitting place and sleeping place in the shinden-zukuri, (寝殿造り, lit. ‘sleep palace construction’), the residences of the ruling Imperial nobility of the period.

An illustration showing an aerial view of a shinden-zukuri (寝殿造り) residence. The main hall, the shinden (寝殿), is at the centre of the complex.

A mi-chо̄dai (御帳台).

An opulent chо̄dai (帳台) on the occasion of the enthronement of an Emperor.

By the time of the shо̄gun-ruled Muromachi period (Muromachi jidai 室町時代, 1333 - 1573), the chо̄dai itself had faded from prominence with the decline of Imperial power, but the name survived in the compound word chо̄dai-gamae (帳台構え), the formal, ornamented ‘doorway’ in a jо̄dan no ma (上段の間, lit. ‘up step space’), a room raised a step above the main floor level in a new style of residential architecture that emerged in the period called shoin-zukuri (書院造り) or buke-zukuri (武家造り, lit. ‘samurai house construction’).

The Tо̄gudо̄ (東求堂) of Jishо̄ Temple (Jishо̄-ji 慈照寺) in Kyо̄to, a surviving example of the shoin style (shoin-zukuri 書院造り).

A jо̄dan no ma (上段の間), raised a step above the level of the main floor, the edge marked with a lacquered interior sill (kamachi 框).

Normally the entry sill (shikii 敷居) of the chо̄dai-gamae is itself raised above the floor level of the jо̄dan no ma, and the entry head is set a step below the main nageshi (長押, head rail) of the room. The opening is furnished with four beautifully decorated opaque sliding doors (fusuma 襖). The gamae of chо̄dai-gamae is pronounced kamae (構え) when read alone, and means ‘structure’, ‘installation’, ‘device’, ‘function’, etc.

The magnificent chо̄dai-gamae (帳台構え) in the Ninomaru Palace Great Hall (Ninomaru Goten О̄-Hiroma 二の丸御殿大広間) in Nijо̄ Castle (Nijо̄-jо̄ 二条城), Kyо̄to.

As is often the case, the name chо̄dai-gamae eventually worked its way down to the vernacular dwellings of commoners; in minka, it refers to a ‘formal’ entry to a dedicated bedroom; it is also sometimes known as nando-gamae (納戸構え). Perhaps the idea of ‘ornamenting’ this part of the minka interior came, like the name chо̄dai-gamae itself, from samurai residences; or perhaps it was an independent and inevitable outcome of the care and sturdiness with which the bedroom partition wall was constructed, motivated initially by the need to protect valuable possessions and the bodies of the inhabitants sleeping within; the fact that this wall faces the living area also makes it an obvious candidate for ‘special treatment’ as a focus of decorative attention in the interior. It should be noted that while the words ‘ornament’ and ‘decoration’ (kazari 飾り) in the Western architectural tradition imply adornment with classical mouldings, sculptural elements, motifs, and so on, in the context of vernacular Japanese architecture, kazari often simply means ‘constructed with finer joinery, higher-quality members, and more of them’. While the chо̄dai-gamae of minka are in no way as opulent as those of the shoin-zukuri, one element of the minka chо̄dai-gamae that has been retained from its aristocratic Muromachi-era progenitor is the raised sill. The head of the minka chо̄dai-gamae, however, is typically at the same height as the nageshi of the room.

Below is an example of a chо̄dai-gamae in a minka in Kyо̄to. On the side of the bedroom partition that faces the main living areas, called the oe (おえ) and the daidoko (だいどこ), the timber cladding (ita-bame 板羽目) consists of magnificent boards around three centimetres thick, slotted into the bays between closely-spaced posts, reminiscent of the partition wall of the nuri-gome (塗籠) bedroom-storeroom of shinden-zukuri. Here the bedroom wall has developed into something not only sturdy and secure but also attractive.

The construction of the partition wall of the nuri-gome is clearly visible in the lower left of this illustration.

The chо̄dai-gamae in the Yamada family residence, a minka in the Rakuhoku district of Kyо̄to. As in the nuri-gome, horizontal boarrds are slotted into closely spaced posts. The room is secured with a kururu lock; the keyhole and escutcheon for the kururu ‘key’ can be seen in the lower right part of the door. When the door is shut it automatically locks, and cannot be opened from the outside without the key. Kyо̄to City.

The exterior of the bedroom (nando 納戸) of the Imanishi (今西) family residence, an Important Cultural Property, with what is said to be the only remaining chо̄dai-gamae in a townhouse (machiya 町家) in the Kinki region. Above the left half of the high sill is a board-and-stud wall, into or behind which the board door on the right slides. As in the previous example, the kururu keyhole is visible in the lower right part of the door. Nara Prefecture.

Below is the chо̄dai-gamae in a gasshо̄-zukuri (‘praying hands construction’) minka from Etchū Gokayama (越中五箇山) in Toyama Prefecture, with ‘decorative’ cupboards (kazari to-dana 飾り戸棚) on both sides of the entrance. For a farmhouse, this is joinery and construction of the highest class. The room within is ten tatami mats in area; it serves both as the bedroom of the ‘head couple’ (kachо̄ fūfu 家長夫婦, the patriarch of the household and his wife), and as a general storeroom for everything from chests of drawers (tansu 筆笥) and trunks (nagamochi 長持) to grains (koku-rui 穀類). In this region, the room is called the chо̄da (ちょうだ) or chonda (ちょんだ), names that clearly derive from the chо̄dai of the shinden-zukuri. In other areas, such as the Izu Islands (Izu-shotо̄ 伊豆諸島), Tajima (但馬) in Hyо̄go, Shima (志摩) in Mie, Echigo (越後) in Niigata, and Awa (阿波) in Tokushima, the room has retained the name chо̄dai.

The splendidly-constructed chо̄dai-gamae of the Murakami (村上) family residence, designated an Important Cultural Property, in Etchū Gokayama, Toyama Prefecture. The flanking wall next to the sliding door, behind the irori firepit, consists of a single large board called a biwa-ita (琵琶板, ‘lute board’); at left is a shallow decorative alcove, with shelves above, called an oshi-ita (押板).

In the culturally advanced Kinai region, centred around Kyо̄to, Nara and О̄saka, the chо̄dai-gamae disappeared around the middle of the Edo period; even previous to this, many had been converted into ‘regular’ rooms. But from the northern part of Kyо̄to to the Hokuriku region and in cold climate regions like Tо̄hoku, the chо̄dai-gamae remained until relatively recently, unchanged from its old form.

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The small, close bedrooms discussed in the last few posts, though certainly ‘specialised’ as sleeping spaces, were also commonly used as storerooms for valuables, and sometimes this was their primary role; from the very first time rooms were partitioned off from previously single-space dwellings, there has been a close association between sleeping and storage. Even in the ancient residences of the nobility, the shinden zukuri (寝殿造り), a corner of the dwelling would be enclosed into a nuri-gome (塗籠), a storage room for valuables that was also used as a bedroom. The name nando (納戸) today refers to a storeroom or ‘walk in robe’; but it once also referred to a bedroom of this type. Often the only partitioned room in the dwelling, with solid, windowless external walls on two or three sides, an equally solid partition wall, often of thick timber boards, on the other interior sides, and a single small entrance, these rooms were the obvious choice for the role of ‘safe room’.

An illustration showing a nurigome (at lower left) in a classical shinden-zukuri residence. The design of the partition wall of stout battens and boards, and the closed board door with its kururu-gi bolt and hole to receive the ‘key’, and keyhole, are clearly visible.

The security of these rooms was completed with a type of lock (kagi 鍵) that adds a ‘key’ known as a kururu-kagi (枢鉤, ‘pivot hook’) and a keyhole (kagi-ana 鍵穴) to the basic sill bolt (otoshi-zaru 落し猿, ‘dropping monkey’; or, in this application, kururu-gi くるる木, ‘pivot timber’). The otoshi-zaru is perfectly adequate for locking a room or house against intruders from the inside when people are home, but it can only be operated from its side of the door, so can’t be used to secure an unoccupied room or house when one goes out; further, a ‘snib’ piece called yose-zaru (寄せ猿, ‘closing monkey’) is required to stop the otoshi-zaru from dropping into its sill mortise accidentally when the door is closed, potentially locking the inhabitants out. In the kururu lock, this drawback is turned into a feature: the yose-zaru is omitted and replaced with the kururu-kagi, so that when the door is closed it locks automatically, but the otoshi-zaru can be lifted, and the door opened, from the outside, at least by the person who has the kururu-kagi, but not by anyone else.

A sliding door with three timber bolts: top, an age-zaru (上げ猿 or 揚げ猿, ‘raising monkey’) with yose-zaru (寄せ猿, ‘closing monkey’); middle, a yoko-zaru (横猿, ‘side monkey’); and bottom, an otoshi-zaru (落とし猿 ‘dropping monkey’) or sage-zaru (下げ猿, ‘lowering monkey), with yose-zaru.

An otoshi-zaru bolt in open position. The otoshi-zaru is raised, but the yose-zaru hasn’t been drawn across to hold it in the raised position, suggesting that this door is open and the bolt is being held up by the sill. If someone closed the door from the other side without remembering to draw the yose-zaru across, the otoshi-zaru would drop into its sill mortise, potentially locking the person out.

An old kururu-kagi (枢鉤) on the left, and on the right a diagram showing how it is used to lift a sill bolt (kururu-gi 枢木) from the other side of the door. Also labelled is the door rail (san 桟) which holds the upper part of the bolt.

A scale model showing the inside face of a hinged door with an otoshi-zaru and ‘pivot lock’ (kururu-kagi 枢鉤) coming through the keyhole (kagi-ana 鍵穴), surrounded by an escutcheon (kagi-ana-tate 鍵穴盾). The end of the kururu-kagi has an elbow, and fits into a hole in the otoshi-zaru.

The outside face of the door, showing the handle of the kururu-kagi inserted into the keyhole. When the bent tip of the kururu-kagi is inserted into the hole in the otoshi-zaru and the handle of the kururu-kagi is rotated clockwise, it lifts the bolt out of its sill mortise (visible in this photograph), allowing the door to be opened.

Unlike a modern key, whose uniqueness lies in the arrangement of its teeth, a kururu-kagi is distinguished from other kururu-kagi by its length. Another random kururu-kagi might fit in its keyhole, but if it is too long or too short, it won’t engage with the hole in the kururu-gi. Though kururu-kagi are simple objects, fabricating one would require the skills of a blacksmith, and to make an effective copy a thief would need to know the distance between the keyhole and the hole in the kururu-gi.

The kururu-kagi normally stayed in the possession of the husband and wife; entrusting their daughter-in-law (yome 嫁) with it was an indication of their recognition of her ‘housewife’s rights’ (shufu-ken 主婦権).

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As we have seen, the oldest and most primitive minka either had no bedrooms at all, or, particularly in cold-climate regions, contained small, cell-like rooms that were used exclusively as bedrooms, and the room itself was the bed. Likewise, the inhabitants might have had no bedding other than the straw laid down to sleep on, or only thin boro-boro (暮露暮露, patchwork) or even nettle blankets. In these houses there were no rooms laid with tatami mats, and naturally no closets (oshi-ire 押入) or other facilities for storing bedding either, since none were required: trunks or chests of drawers were enough for the long-term storage of valuables and clothes.

Below are the floor plans of two minka that are representative of bedroom arrangements in cold-climate areas of the country. The first is from a mountainous district in Fukui Prefecture: there are two bedrooms (ne-doko ねどこ), one for the ‘head couple’ (kachо̄ fūfu 家長夫婦), and the other, next to the stable (maya まや), for the young husband and wife; this room sometimes goes by the name umaya-nando (うまやなんど, ‘stable bedroom’). Other than the later addition of a small window, there are no external openings to the main room (de で) whatsoever. The small, windowless bedrooms are dispersed, and occupied according to the composition of the family. While most minka are dark inside, it is only on seeing an interior like this that one truly appreciates the fact that these farmers’ dwellings were, other than for meal-taking, really just for sleeping in.

Plan of the Higashi (東) family house, Fukui Prefecture, is representative of bedroom arrangements in cold-climate minka. The small, windowless bedrooms are dispersed, and occupied according to the composition of the family.

The second plan is from a minka from Tamugimata (田麦俣), Yamagata Prefecture 田麦俣. The o-heya (おへや, ‘honorable bedroom’) is the bedroom of the master and his wife, and the de-beya (でべや, ‘projecting bedroom’) is that of the young couple (waka-fūfu 若夫婦). The subfloor space under the de-beya is used as a chicken coop (tori-goya 鶏小屋, ‘chicken hut’) — perhaps this pairing was to ensure that the young couple rose early. The ko-beya (こべや, ‘small bedroom’) next to the earth-floored niwa (にわ) is the servants’ bedroom.

Another cold-climate minka, the Shibutani (渋谷) family house, Yamagata Prefecture.

In Akita Prefecture, the room behind the chameya (the chanoma 茶の間, ‘tea room’) is the patriarch’s bedroom; the kojiya in the chūmonbu (中門部, the short leg of the L in the L-shaped chūmon zukuri 中門造り minka) is for the young couple, and the ina-beya (稲部屋, ‘rice room’) next to the doma is for the servants.

In the Tо̄hoku region there is a tendency to partition the rear of the interior into multiple cell-like bedrooms, as shown in the example plan below, a magari-ya (曲り屋, another type of L-plan minka) in Iwate Prefecture.

This magari-ya (曲り屋) minka in Iwate contains five bedrooms, each about two jо̄u (帖) in area. The portraits of the occupants are shown above each bedroom: in the first bedroom (A), the ‘head couple’ (kachо̄ fūfu 家長夫婦) — the master of the household (chichi 父, ‘father’) and his wife (haha 母, ‘mother’) — and their younger daughter (shо̄-ni 小２, ‘elementary school second year’); in the second bedroom (B), the master’s mother (obaa オバア, ‘grandma’); in the third bedroom (C), the young couple — the head couple’s oldest son (otto 夫, ‘husband’) and his wife (tsuma 妻, ‘wife’) — and their baby (mago マゴ, ‘grandchild’); in the fourth bedroom (D), the master’s unmarried sister (oba オバ, ‘auntie’) and the head couple’s older daughter (chū-ni 中２, ‘middle school second year’); and in the fifth bedroom (E), the head couple’s three sons: kо̄-ni (高２, ‘high school second year’), shо̄-roku (小ろ６, ‘elementary school sixth year’), and shо̄-ni (小２, ‘elementary school second year’).

The family tree is shown to the right of the portraits, with the composition of each bedroom indicated by the five bubbles (A to E) drawn over their respective occupants.

The family structure and sleeping positions are shown in the diagrams; to quote from architect and scholar Nishiyama Uzо̄ (西山 夘三, 1911-1994):

“In these hiya (ひや, bedroom), slightly larger than one tsubo (hito-tsuba 一坪, roughly 4m²), futon are laid out over the whole floor; they are of course permanent beds (man-nen yuka 万年床). Around the perimeter of the futon are kept changes of clothes, laundry, small sewing boxes and old chests of drawers. The floors of the hiya are a step higher than the uchi (うち) and niwa (にわ); in this, they resemble the nuri-gome (塗籠) of the shinden zukuri (寝殿造り, villa) in which the nobility of the early Heian period lived; on opening the door to enter one of these hiya, more so than entering the typical bedroom, you have the sense that you are entering a sleeping place. The walls and low ceilings are neatly lined with wallpaper (kabe-gami 壁紙), probably to prevent drafts. Because the hiya are only a bit more than two mats (ni-jо̄ 二帖) in area, once they are occupied with chests of drawers, clothes trunks, and so on, there is barely enough room for a person to lie down. Two or three people sleep in these bedrooms. In this particular house there are comparatively many hiya, but not all farmhouses have this kind of bedroom arrangement. There are even examples where five or six people sleep in a single, terribly overcrowded hiya. Adopting this form of bedroom, in which people sleep packed together in such a tight space, is thought to be partly to prevent cold.”

Below is a photograph of the interior of one of the bedrooms (o-heya) in the Shibutani (渋谷) family residence in Yamagata. When a bedroom lacks a high sill to retain straw or husk bedding, as in this case, timber members called ‘straw stops’ (wara-dome 藁止め) may be used instead. They are arranged in a square or rectangle on the floor, then straw is laid down in this ‘bunded area’ to form the bed. In Japanese, railway sleepers are called makura-gi (枕木), ‘pillow timber’, but the wara-dome at the head of the bed was literally that: its upper side was planed into a ‘fish cake’ (kamaboko 蒲鉾) profile and used as a pillow. In the houses of landholders and others, multiple servants would sleep on such a single, long wara-dome, and it is said that in the morning the end of the wara-dome would be struck with a wooden mallet to get them up.

The head ‘straw stop’ (wara-dome 藁止め) set on the floor of a bedroom. It is about 15cm square in section, with its upper face planed into a rounded profile, indicating that it is used as a pillow. Another wara-dome stands upright against the entry door. Yamagata Prefecture.

A ‘fish cake’ (kamaboko 蒲鉾).

As in the layout common in Akita Prefecture mentioned above, there are regions where a bedroom takes up a corner of the earth-floored utility area (niwa にわ). Often this bedroom is in the position where the stable (umaya 厩) would be, or next to the stable, and is called the mukou-zashiki, niwa-zashiki, shimo-zashiki, etc. It is the bedroom for the young couple, for ‘retired’ grandparents, or for servants. Other somewhat ‘out of the way’ or low-status locations for sleeping included the magi (まぎ), a bedroom above the stable for wakaze (若勢, agricultural indentured servants), and the upper floor of the chūmon (the short leg, usually containing a stable) of a chūmon-zukuri (L-plan) minka, which contained a shishi-mado (獅子窓, ‘lion window’, found in the thatched roofs of farmhouses in Akita and Yamagata that functioned both to admit light and allow smoke to escape, named for its supposed resemblance to the head of a lion), and was a sleeping place for children or servants.

The image below shows a bedroom in the Wakayama family (Wakayama-ke 若山家residence, a gasshо̄-zukuri (合掌造り, ‘praying hands construction’) minka in Shо̄kawa village (Shо̄kawa-mura 荘川村), Gifu Prefecture. In addition to the head couple’s bedroom (chо̄da ちょうだ) at the rear of the dwelling, and the chо̄da for female children, the upper part of the enge (えんげ), a dialect name for a hiro-en (広縁), a deep ‘verandah’ (engawa 縁側) on the south side of the dwelling, has been converted into a low-ceilinged mezzanine-type floor (chū-ni-kai 中二階, ‘semi second floor’), which served as the bedroom (shown in the photograph) for the young women of the household. In this region, only the oldest son and his bride were permitted an official marriage; others entered into an arrangement known as tsuma-doi kon (妻訪婚, lit. ‘wife visit marriage’), a form of marriage in which the husband and wife do not cohabitate; instead the husband ‘commutes’ to the wife’s place of residence. This custom is thought to have influenced the location of the bedroom, chosen so as to make it directly accessible from outside.

A bedroom (chouda ちょうだ) in the residence of a large family in Shо̄kawa village (Shо̄kawa-mura 荘川村), Gifu Prefecture. The room is spread with bullrush (gama 蒲, Typha latifolia) mats (mushiro 莚) called gama-mushiro (蒲莚), and contains a trunk (naga-mochi 長持), lantern (andon 行燈), sewing box (hari-bako 針箱), wooden pillow (ki-makura 木枕), and other items, lending it an antiquated atmosphere.　

JAPANESE MINKA LXXIV - INTERIORS 15: SLEEPING AREAS 2

The evolution of Japanese sleeping spaces is perhaps counter-intuitive from a European perspective, where private, specialised bedrooms are seen as the natural developmental end-point. As we will see, in Japan, the general sequence of development has been: single-space dwellings → small, closet-like dedicated bedrooms → larger, more open multi-purpose rooms; and today, with the Westernisation of Japanese dwellings, a return to private, dedicated bedrooms; but this latter development is beyond our scope.

The first houses humans built were built as ‘lairs’. Of all the functions of a dwelling, its most important is as a sleeping place. Primitive Japanese houses were such enclosures: the whole interior was a single space, and the whole space was for sleeping. So long as a degree of inconvenience and discomfort can be endured, all activities other than sleeping can be undertaken outdoors, but for restful sleep, it is absolutely necessary to have a space with an enclosed perimeter, to protect the body against external attack, predation by wild animals, rain, and cold.

Around the Tempо̄ (天保) era (1831 - 1845), the Edo-period merchant and essayist Suzuki Bokushi (鈴木牧之, 1770 - 1842) travelled to Akiyama-gо̄ (秋山郷), a mountainous district straddling Nagano and Niigata Prefectures, an area of extremely remote rural villages where many old customs survived until relatively recently. Suzuki recorded his impressions in the best-seller Hokuetsu-seppu (北越雪譜, Hokuetsu Snow Notes), published in 1837. Hokuetsu (北越) refers to the west-coast ‘snow country’ (yuki-guni 雪国) region, roughly comprised of the current-day prefectures of Fukui, Ishikawa, Niigata, and Toyama. Suzuki writes:

“The people of Akiyama all sleep in their clothes. They have nothing in the way of bedding. On winter nights they build a big fire in the irori and sleep around it. When it is very cold, they gather straw from other places* and make bags with it to sleep in. Those with wives make bigger bags, and husband and wife go together into the same opening.”

*Farmers in this area practiced slash-and-burn cultivation, so had to source their straw from the plains (hirachi 平地).

As various other domestic activities were gradually brought inside, the first thing to be partitioned off from the rest of the space was the bedroom (shinshitsu 寝室, ‘sleep room’), though these rooms also functioned, sometimes primarily, as ‘safe rooms’ for the storage of valuables. In the Japan Open-Air Folk House Museum in Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, there is a minka from Akiyama-gо̄, the former Yamada family (Yamada-ke 山田家) residence. This L-plan (chūmon-zukuri 中門造り) dwelling, unlike the one described by Suzuki above, has a bedroom. It is a hiroma-type three-room layout (hiroma-gata san-madori (広間型三間取り), but the interior is largely open: the nakanoma and dei are only divided by sills, and the bedroom (heya へや), though enclosed with board walls, has a mat (mushiro 莚) hanging over it its entrance in place of a solid door. The dwelling itself has reed-thatched exterior walls, and there are no raised timber floor areas; the earth floor of this ‘earth-sitting dwelling’ (土座住まい) is spread thickly with reed heads and varieties of straw. While this minka is still fairly primitive, it at least has a bedroom with solid, carefully built walls, such that the room could have also been used to store valuables, with the addition of a proper door.

Exterior of the former Yamada (山田) family residence, built in 1776.

Interior view of the Yamada family residence, taken from the niwa looking across the living room (naka-no-ma なかのま) towards the bedroom (heya へや) on the left, with hanging mat over the entrance and high sill, and the open formal room (dei でい) on the right.

Plan of the former Yamada family residence. The bedroom (heya) へや) is at the top right.

Bedrooms of this type, which were still being used even into the 1970s in villages in remote or cold regions, were usually extremely ‘close’ and dark, with solid walls on all four sides, broken only by a small entrance. In warmer climates such as that of the Kinki region, they might have been relatively large, perhaps around six tatami mats in area (9.9 m²), but in cold regions like Tо̄hoku, many are as small as two mats (3.3 m²). Such small, dark sleeping closets were thought effective for peaceful rest, to prevent cold, and to protect against the danger presented by bandits and others.

The whole floor of the bedroom would be spread thickly with soft straw, or, in mountain villages, some variety of rice husk (ine-kara 稲殻 or fue-gara). So that this material would not spill out of the room, the entrance sill was set 20 cm or more above floor level, and had to be straddled to enter. In some areas, this high sill is called haji-kakushi (はじかくし, ‘shame/embarrassment hider’); in other areas it is called hako-doko (箱床 lit. ‘box floor’), because the bed entirely occupies the space within the four walls. Often people would sleep on a thin woven straw sleeping mat (ne-goza 寝ござ) or a large hemp ‘wrapping cloth’ (furoshiki 風呂敷) laid on top of the bedding material, but children and others might sleep burrowed directly into the compacted straw. The term ‘permanent bed’ (man-nen-doko 万年床, lit. ‘ten thousand year bed’) is used in Japan today to describe futon that are ‘unmade’, i.e. not stored away every morning as is proper, but left permanently on the floor, suggesting laziness. Obviously loose straw, let alone rice husks, cannot be practically taken up and stored away every day, especially when there is no storage facility, so the bedrooms described above were true man-nen-doko, without the negative connotations implied by the modern usage of the term.

A negoza (寝茣蓙) sleeping mat.

People slept in these bedrooms completely naked (suppadaka 素裸), either covering their bodies with their day-clothes, or drawing over themselves a patchwork (boro-boro) blanket made of boro (襤褸), rags and ragged clothes, stitched together. This latter practice was common enough that there was even a trade in buying up boro in the Kansai region for bulk resale in the Kantо̄ region.

A boro ‘quilt’ from the 19th century.

Even where households had some form of bedding (in the village Suzuki writes of there were two such houses), it was reserved for guests. Suzuki himself was given the use of this bedding when he stayed a night at one of these houses: a thick cloth (tafu 太布) woven from nettle (ira-kusa 刺草, Urtica thunbergiana), which he soon discovered still contained traces of the stinging hairs (ira 刺). Suzuki gives us his thoughts on this experience, writing:

“I slept on this bedding, but that lint found its way into the folds (suso 裾) [of my kimono], and also much into the lining (awase 袷); it is not something that should be near the body.”

From Kantо̄ to the Tо̄hoku region, there were forms of bedding that differed from the simple rectangular blankets found in Kansai: sleeved yogi (夜着 ‘night gown’) that resembled kimono (着物), and another type known as yo-busuma or yu-bushima (夜衾 ‘night fusuma’). Fusuma (衾), not to be confused with the homophonic fusuma (襖), the opaque sliding door panels of traditional Japanese homes, is a type of bedding used to cover the body, first recorded among the nobility of the Heian period (平安時代, 794 - 1185). Later yogi and yo-busuma used by common people were somewhat different to the original aristocratic versions, but retained the names.

A winter yogi.

Kamakura Period (鎌倉時代 1185 - 1333) nobility sleeping on tatami mats under kimono.

JAPANESE MINKA LXXIII - INTERIORS 14: SLEEPING AREAS 1

It is well understood that the external appearance of any vernacular dwelling is an expression of the various factors that make up its local environment and culture, be that climate, material and technological availability, economic conditions, social and legal codes, and so on. Of course, the evolution of a dwelling’s interior is likewise influenced by the same things; but perhaps less often recognised is that the unfixed contents of the dwelling are also vessels of these factors, and so can have equally significant effects on the internal planning and ‘occupational style’ of the dwelling, even when they may have seemingly little to do with architecture.

These effects may be more evident in traditional or historical vernacular dwellings, but they are also present in our own modern houses, though over-familiarity might make them less obvious to us. Carpet, for example, is an ancient technology, but wall-to-wall fitted carpet only really became feasible after the invention of the vacuum cleaner. There is a modern tendency to think that our things are the way they are because we know better than the people of the past, when we are simply responding, often passively or reflexively, to the particular conditions of our time, just as our ancestors did. In the case of architecture, because buildings can become ‘stranded’ by lasting much longer than the conditions that gave rise to them, it is easy to forget that elements of their design that may strike us today as illogical or irrational probably made perfect sense when they were built. Conversely, the conditions of our own time have made possible certain designs and living arrangements that would have been impractical or nonsensical before these conditions existed.

The subject of the next several posts — the bedrooms (shinshitsu 寝室), sleeping spaces (nema 寝間), and sleeping places (shinjo 寝所) of minka — provides, in the story of the evolution of these spaces, an excellent example of the kind of effects that material and technological developments, as manifested in domestic objects — in this case bedding (shingu 寝具) — can have on the internal development of a dwelling.

Two futon laid out in a Japanese-style room (wa-shitsu 和室) in a modern dwelling.

JAPANESE MINKA LXXII - INTERIORS 13: WET AREAS 4

The ‘sink place’ (nagashi-ba 流し場, lit. ‘flowing place’) is one of the central features and facilities of the indoor wet area or ‘water use place’ (mizu-tsukai-ba 水使い場). In the Kansai region the sink (nagashi 流し, lit. ‘flowing’) is often called the hashiri (はしり), from the verb hashiru (走る, to run), which exactly describes piped mountain water flowing ceaselessly into the sink; in the Niigata area it is called the mizu-ban (水盤, ‘water bowl’), a name that seems fitting when one is filling the wash bucket (arai-oke 洗い桶) with water from the water jar (mizu-game 水甕) adjacent to the sink.

Sinks are categorised both according to where they are in the dwelling, and the posture taken when using them. Regarding the former, there is the doma nagashi (土間流し), a nagashi built in the earth-floored utility area (doma 土間); and the yuka-ue nagashi (床上流し, lit. ‘floor-upon sink’), a nagashi built in the raised, board-floored kitchen (daidokoro 台所). As for the latter, there is the tachi-nagashi (立ち流し, ‘standing sink’), used while standing; and the suwari-nagashi (坐り流し, ‘sitting sink’), used while kneeling or squatting. The yuka-ue suwari-nagashi (床上坐り流し), a sink used while sitting on a raised, boarded floor, is associated with the mizu-ya (水屋) of the tea ceremony (chaseki 茶席), and is thought to be an old style of nagashi. In Kyūshū, the bottom of the sink consists of a bamboo screen (takesu 竹簀); these sinks are called arendoko (あれんどこ), from ara(i no) toko(ro) 洗(いの)所, ‘washing place’.

A ‘sitting sink’ (suwari-nagashi 坐り流し) built in one corner of the doma of an ‘earth-sitting dwelling’ (土座住まい). Water is drawn into it via a pipe. Shiga Prefecture.

An indoor well (uchi-ido 内井戸) and stone ‘standing sink’ (tachi-nagashi 立ち流し) built in the kitchen (daidoko(ro) 台所) of a townhouse (machiya 町家). Shiga Prefecture.

An ‘on-floor standing sink’ (yuka-ue tachi-nagashi 床上立ち流し) built in the board-floored kitchen (katte かって); to its left is a stove (hettsui へっつい) with attached flue (entotsu 煙突), and above it shelving for pots, etc. Yamagata Prefecture.

An ‘on-floor sitting sink’ (yuka-ue suwari-nagashi 床上坐り流し) and water jar in a projecting alcove in the south wall of a multi-purpose room called the idoko. Above them are cupboards for tableware. Nagano Prefecture.

A ‘water use place’ (mizu-tsukai-ba 水使い場) with sitting sink (suawari-nagashi 坐り流し). Piped water is received into a small joined-timber sink called here a masu (桝), which sits in a stepped-down slatted floor area where both cooking tasks and laundry are done. Yamagata Prefecture.

JAPANESE MINKA LXXI - INTERIORS 12: WET AREAS 3

Wells (ido 井戸, lit. ‘well door’) belong to the category of man-made water infrastructure. Wells are essentially just holes dug in the ground that provide an opening or ‘door’ (to 戸) onto a source of groundwater, making it accessible from the surface. If necessary, the hole is reinforced with a lining, as represented pictorially by the kanji 井 (i ‘well’).

Wells have a long history in Japan: timbers determined to be the lining boards of large wells have been excavated from the ruins of Nara Period (Nara jidai 奈良時代, 710 - 794) temples. Common folk could not hope to have such large or deep wells at their houses, however; their wells, such as they were, might rather be thought of as ‘augmented springs’ intended to give a helping hand to naturally-occurring seeping sources of groundwater, by increasing or concentrating the volume of emerging water to make collecting it more practical. The picture below is an example of such a well, called a yoko-ido (横井戸 ‘horizontal well’) or yoko-ana-mizu (横穴水 ‘horizontal hole water’). Often these wells were dug into the bank or foot (suso 裾) of the mountain or hill behind the house, probably because digging sideways is easier than digging vertically down.

Long ago, ‘horizontal holes’ excavations made in banks until the mountain water emerged/seeped out. These old wells are of a type called yoko-ana-mizu (横穴水, ‘horizontal hole water’). Fukui Prefecture.

Even when vertical wells were dug, the excavation would be shallow, and made in a place where the water table was high enough that water seemed already about to emerge; such wells were called asa-ido (浅井戸 ‘shallow well’) or shaku-ido (杓井戸 ‘ladle well’). For the lucky few, there were also artesian wells (fuke-i 噴け井 ‘spouting well’), where underground water comes to the surface under its own pressure.

A shallow well called a shaku-ido (杓井戸 ‘ladle well’). To prevent leaves and other debris from falling into it, it has been covered with a roof made of naturally curved timbers clad with Japanese cedar (sugi 杉) bark. Saitama Prefecture.

As mentioned, the construction of a well required both technical ability and significant expense, so most wells were communal, built in the village ‘square’ (hiro-ba 広場, lit. ‘wide place’), like that shown below. These deep ‘dug wells’ (hori-ido 堀り井戸) used a tsurube (釣瓶, lit. ‘fishing bottle’), a bucket or other container attached to a rope, to draw water from the well, and so were called tsuru-i (釣る井 ‘fishing well’), among other names. The two wells in the photograph below are kuruma-ido (車井戸, ‘wheel well’); each uses a pulley wheel and chain to raise and lower twin buckets.

Two communal wells in the village square. The wells are kuruma-ido (車井戸 ‘wheel well’) that utilise pulley wheels. That there are two wells is probably explained by a division of use: one well for drinking water, the other for general purposes. Kyо̄to Prefecture.

There are also wells that employ as their lifting mechanism a hane-tsurube (跳ね鶴瓶, ‘jumping/bouncing bucket’), a counterbalanced structure somewhat like a yajiro-be-e (弥次郎兵衛) toy, with the bucket on a rope or pole at one end of the lever arm and a balance stone tied to the other.

A traditional balancing toy known as a yajiro-be-e (弥次郎兵衛).

A hane-tsurube and well.

A series of hane-tsurube used to flood rice fields from an irrigation canal (yо̄suirо 用水路, lit. ‘use water road’).

Both kuruma-ido and hane-tsurube well types allow one to use one’s body weight to pull down to lift the water bucket, which is much easier than pulling it up directly.

In the Meiji period (Meiji jidai 明治時代 1868 - 1912), the yashiki-ido (屋敷井戸, ‘villa well’), the private well for the individual use of a single family, previously limited to the houses of upper-strata farming families and temple residences, began to appear in the houses of commoners. In the preceding feudal era (hansei jidai 藩政時代), the amount of water allowed to commoners was extremely small, such that people were said to bathe only once a month, and tableware items would be put away in their box trays (hakozen 箱膳) without being washed; but with the abolition of the class system and its sumptuary laws in the Meiji period, the customs and habits of the upper classes gradually penetrated down to the masses. This change, together with advances in the understanding of hygiene, meant that the yashiki-ido and indoor well (uchi-ido 内井戸) spread rapidly.

The ‘villa well’ (yashiki-ido 屋敷井戸) at the house of a wealthy merchant, with a magnificent stone well enclosure and a shrine for the well deity (ido-kami-sama 井戸神様). Okayama Prefecture.

An indoor well (uchi-ido 内井戸) built in the niwa (the earth-floored utility area, usually doma) of a townhouse (machiya 町家) near Kyо̄to; next to it is a ‘standing sink’ (tachi-nagashi, 立流し). Shiga Prefecture.

JAPANESE MINKA LXX - INTERIORS 11: WET AREAS 2

Last week’s post briefly touched on the man-made waterways (yо̄suirо 用水路, lit. ‘use water road’) - the irrigation waterways, canals, ditches, charged gutters, and so on - that are ubiquitous in Japan. Before the introduction of underground reticulated water supplies, these yо̄suirо served as a source of domestic water for many households, particularly in urban areas. The water drawn off from them was called tsukai-gawa (使い川, lit. ‘use river’), kawaba (川場 lit. ‘river place’), and so on; it was conveyed to either an indoor or an outdoor wet area (mizu-tsukai-ba 水使い場, ‘water use place’), as shown in the images below. In either case, there would be a simple shelf for storing pots, kettles, and other implements at the point of use. This facility is called the mizu-ya (水屋, ‘water roof/house’) in Shiga, mizu-goya (水小屋 ‘water hut’) in Tottori, kawa-dana (川棚 ‘water shelf’) in Saitama, kaidana (かいだな, prob. ‘river shelf’) in Gunma; in and east of Chūbu it is kawa-do (かわど, prob. ‘river place’), kawa-ba (かわば, ‘river place’), kado (かど), etc. In the ‘moat farmhouses’ (kangо̄ nо̄ka 環濠農家) of the Kita Kawachi (北河内) district of О̄saka Prefecture, the perimeter of the eave projecting from the moat-facing side of the main house (omo-ya 母屋) is enclosed to form a wet area, called the hinara (ひなら).

An indoor mizu tsukai-ba served by water that has been branched off from an outdoor source. Gifu Prefecture.

A mizu-ya (水屋, ‘water roof’) erected at the mizo-gawa in front of a house. There are shelves for pots and tableware, and preparatory cooking tasks are undertaken here, outdoors. In the main house there is only a jar (kame 甕) for drinking water. Shiga Prefecture.

The same mizu-tsukai-ba as shown above, in use. Shiga Prefecture.

In contrast to a communal spring, which is somewhat like a natural tap or faucet, where the source of water ‘upstream’ of the point of delivery is protected from pollution or despoilation by being underground, the quality of an exposed, surface-flowing water source such as a yо̄suiro cannot be preserved if every household that relies on it uses it however they please; in particular, downstream users can suffer from the actions of those upstream. So various regulations and etiquettes arose, just as they do when rivers flow through multiple states or countries. General wastewater was directed to a man-made pond (tame-ike 溜池), often used as a carp-breeding pond (yо̄ri-ike 養鯉池) or for some other productive purpose; rice water and urine were used as fertiliser; nappies (diapers) and underwear were washed in water drawn into a tub (tarai 盥) that was then emptied into a dedicated drainage channel. There were also rules relating to times of use: early mornings, for example, were reserved for drawing drinking water, and only after around 7am was it considered acceptable to use the water source for other purposes.

Management and use of a village’s water infrastructure was carefully planned and anticipated from the outset. The picture below shows an example in Gо̄barajuku (郷原宿), an old inn town in Nagano Prefecture. Water for general use (yо̄sui 用水, ‘use water’) flows in front of the roadside houses, while potable water is provided at communal, roofed wells built at regular intervals.

An example of water infrastructure planning: in the village of Gо̄barajuku (郷原宿), a roofed well providing water for drinking (inryо̄-yо̄ 飲料用) has been built, in accordance with the regulations, next to a yо̄suirо carrying general ‘use water’ (tsukai-mizu 使い水) for other purposes. Nagano Prefecture.

Below is an example from Fukui Prefecture. Flights of two or three stone steps are installed at the washing places (arai-ba 洗い場) in front of each house to provide access down to the yо̄suiro. In the winter months, such waterways function as ‘snow disposal gutters’ (ryūsetsukо̄ 流雪溝, lit. ‘flow snow gutter’), carrying away the snow that falls from roofs; they can often be seen in old towns and villages in the Hokuriku region.

Mizu-tsukai-ba established at a man-made ‘gutter’ (yо̄suirо 用水路) running in front of townhouses in a town in Mikata-chо̄ (三方町), Fukui Prefecture. A short flight of stone steps leading down to the water is visible in the lower right corner. This yо̄suirо also serves as a ‘snow disposal gutter’ (ryūsetsukо̄ 流雪溝) to carry away the snow that accumulates on roofs and in front of the houses.

Of the two methods of drawing from either natural or artificial sources of flowing water, those that use pipes (kan 管) are called kakehi-mizu (筧水 ‘pipe water’) or yama-mizu (山水 ‘mountain water’), and those that use open channels (mizo 溝) are called nagare-gawa (流れ川 ‘flowing river’), etc. Mizo is usually translated into English as trench, ditch, drain, channel, gully, gutter, etc., but these words can seem inadequate or inappropriate to describe something like that shown below: even today the water flowing in these waterways is often so clear and clean that aquatic plants, frogs, fish, and even sometimes fireflies can be found in them.

A yо̄suiro in Nishiwaki, Hyо̄go Prefecture.

In addition to ‘artificial’ water sources such as yо̄suirо, natural springs (waku-izumi 湧泉) were also heavily utilised, particularly in rural and mountainous areas. Springs may be, as in the image below, of the kiyo-mizu (清水, lit. ‘pure water’) type, where the water seeps out from the belly (hara 腹) of a mountain; or they may be of the type found in the Susono (裾野) region of Fuji (富士), Shizuoka Prefecture, where underground water flows out like a river to the surface.

A ‘water scooping place’ (mizu-kumi-ba 水汲み場), where spring water seeping out from the belly of the mountain is collected for use. Nara Prefecture.

This is not a normal mountain stream that has ‘picked up steam’ over a long distance from many small springs and streamlets feeding into it; it is groundwater that has emerged from a high-volume spring only a short distance upstream. Shizuoka Prefecture.

Below is a communal village mizu-tsukai-ba built at a moderately-sized spring in the foothills (sanroku 山麓) of the Yatsugatake (八ヶ岳) mountain range straddling Nagano and Yamanashi Prefectures. It is a social gathering place for the villagers; they have also expressed their gratitude for the water by enshrining the water deities (mizu-gami 水神) here.

A communal mizu-tsukai-ba built at a spring, enshrining the water deities; it is also indispensable as a social gathering place for the villagers. Nagano Prefecture.

Springs are called deshizu (出清水 ‘out pure water’) in Tо̄hoku and Hokuriku, kama (かま) in Chiba, demizu (出水 ‘out water’) in Chūgoku, and also kumi-kawa (汲み川 ‘drawing river’), tsubokawa (壷川 ‘pot river’), ike (いけ, ‘pond’), etc.; these names are used indiscriminately to refer to either piped or channelled water. There are many places where spring water (yūsui 湧水) is mainly used for drinking, as indicated by the name nomi-kawa (飲み川 ‘drinking river’); the water is drawn with a ladle (hishaku 柄杓) into water buckets (oke 桶) and carried back to each house to be stored in the large water jar (mizu-game 水甕) that sits beside the ‘sink board’ (nagashi-dai 流し台) in each house.

A glazed water jar (mizu-game 水甕), with wooden lid and ladle, stands next to the ‘sink board’ (nagashi-dai 流し台) in this diorama of the kitchen of a minka.