Last week’s post focused on the evolution of the Shiina house (1674) in Ibaraki Prefecture, regarded as the oldest extant minka in eastern Japan (Kantо̄ 関東). The Kitamura house, presented in a previous post on hiroma-type three-room layouts (hiroma-gata san-madori 広間型三間取り) and shown again here below, is regarded as the second-oldest, with the year 1687 inscribed on its structure.
The Kitamura house is a typical example of the hiroma-type three-room layouts representative of the Musashi (武蔵) and Sagami (相模) districts of eastern Japan. In clear contrast to these minka, however, are the middle-zashiki hiroma-type (naka-zashiki hiroma-gata 中座敷広間型) layouts of the south-eastern part of Kantо̄. Further, the posts of these houses are set directly on post stones (a method called ishiba-tate 石場建て) without an intermediate ground sill (dodai 土台); the finish on the timbers indicates the use of a maruba (丸刃) adze (chouna 手斧); and the mechanisms used to latch doors are antiquated.
The Kitamura house, originally Kanagawa Prefecture, a hiroma-type three-room layout (hiroma-gata san-madori 広間型三間取り) and considered to be the second-oldest surviving minka in eastern Japan (1687).
If we consider the middle-zashiki hiroma-type layout as one in which the under-eave spaces (hisashi 庇) to the front and rear of the main ‘middle’ rooms (the rooms under the main body of the roof, the jо̄ya 上屋) are extended and developed into enclosed geya (下屋) spaces that contain rooms of their own, then the perpendicular lineup (heiretsu-gata 併列型) layout, in which a single ‘row’ of rooms is arrayed along the axis perpendicular to the room-doma boundary, ought to be the prototype or precursor form of the middle-zashiki type.
An example of a perpendicular lineup (heiretsu-gata 併列型) layout.
In the Totsukawa 十津川 district in the mountains of the Kiwa (紀和) region (current-day Wakayama and Mie Prefectures) in western Japan (Kansai 関西) where the perpendicular lineup layout is common, there is an example of such a development path: the Nakatani family (Nakatani-ke 中谷家) residence. Though this layout, in which the various rooms are seemingly placed so as to wrap around the firepit (irori)-equipped central room (here the omote-zashiki おもてざしき), closely resembles the wrapped-hiroma type (tori-maki hiroma-gata 取巻き広間型) layout, in its particular characteristics it is arguably more strongly reminiscent of a regular layout (seikei madori 整形間取り) than it is of the wrapped-hiroma type.
The Nakatani house, an example of a layout in which the front and rear under-eave spaces of a parallel line-up (heiretsu-gata 併列型) three room layout (san-madori ３間取り) have been extended and developed into rooms, transforming it into a layout that has characteristics of both the middle-zashiki type (naka-zashiki-gata 中座敷型) and the wrapped-hiroma type (tori-maki hiroma-gata 取巻き広間型) layouts. Labelled are the kitchen-dining-family room (daidoko だいどこ) with firepit (irori, marked ro 炉), cupboard (todana 戸棚), and separate room with stove for cooking (chо̄ri 調理), for dining (shokuji 食事), family time (danran 団らん), courting (kousai 交際), and handwork (te-shigoto 手仕事); small earth-floored entrance areas; the usuya (うすや) for food preparation (shokuryо̄ chо̄sei 食糧調整); the bedroom (nema ねま) for sleeping (shūshin 就寝) and storage (shūnо̄ 収納); the ‘front zashiki’ (omote-zashiki おもてざしき), with firepit, for ceremonies (gyо̄ji 行事) and receiving guests (sekkyaku 接客); the enclosed verandah/formal entry en-no (えんの) for entertaining (о̄tai 応対) and handwork; the ‘inner zashiki’ (oku-zashiki おくざしき), with low heated table (kotatsu コタツ) and decorative alcove (toko とこ), for ceremonies, receiving guests, and sleeping; the ‘small zashiki’ (ko-zashiki こざしき), with Buddhist alcove (butsuma, marked manji 卍) and Shintо̄ alcove (marked torii ⛩), for storage, sleeping, and religious activities (shinkо̄ 信仰); and a ‘study/bedroom’ (en-no-kami えんのかみ, lit. ‘verandah’s upper’), for sleeping and study (benkyо̄ 勉強).