The final building to be featured in this series on minka layouts is the residence of the Sakurai family (Sakurai-ke 桜井家), a large kaisendoiya (回船問屋), the combined house and business premises of a ship cargo wholesaler or shipping agent, on the Noto Peninsula (Noto Hantо̄ 能登半島), Ishikawa Prefecture. Fittingly, this grand minka is the largest we have looked at so far, at least by room count, and probably also by floor area.

The plan can be interpreted as a ‘wrapped hiroma type’ (tori-maki hiroma-gata 取巻き広間型) core, to which rooms have been added in two directions: the kyaku-ma (きゃくま) and tsugi-no-ma (つぎのま) to the facade or front side (the bottom of the plan below), and a column of five rooms, from the kami-zashiki (かみざしき) to the shufū-shitsu (主婦室), to the upper (kami-te 上み手) side (the right side of the plan). As befitting a ‘modern’ Meiji era (1868-1912) minka, the layout is a well-developed regular multi-room layout (seikei ta-madori 整形多間取り).

Plan of the residence of the Sakurai family (*Sakurai-ke* 桜井家), Ishikawa Prefecture. The many rooms are arranged in a regular (*seikei* 整形) layout, but as with the *hon-mune zukuri minka* discussed in last week’s post, the layout can be seen as a wrapped-*hiroma* type core with the *daidoko* as its nucleus, to which a row/column of rooms have been added to each of the ‘upper’ and facade sides of this core. Labelled are the passage (*doma* どま) with ‘big door’ (*о̄do* 大戸) and step platform (*shikidai* 式台); the *niwa* (にわ); the partly board (*ita* 板) floored kitchen (*naka-shimoto* なかしもと) with stove, sink, and well; another board-floored room (unlabelled) off the kitchen that is likely a pantry; the expansive (22.5 *tatami* mats) main living area (*daidoko* だいどこ) with two firepits (*irori*, marked ro 炉); the ‘*shikidai* room’ (*shikidai-no-ma* しきだいのま) with firepit; the ‘guest room’ (*kyaku-no-ma* きゃくのま) with its own *shikidai*; the ‘second room’ (*tsugi-no-ma* つぎのま) and ‘upper *zashiki*’ (*kami-zashiki* かみざしき) with shelves (*tana* たな), both served by a semi-internal ‘verandah’ (en えん) that leads to the bath (*yoku* 浴) and ‘upper toilet (*kami-benjo* 上便所); the Buddhist room (*butsuma* ぶつま) with Buddhist alcove (marked 卍); the ‘lower *zashiki*’ (*shimo-zashiki* しもざしき); the ‘anteroom’ (*hikae-no-ma* ひかえのま); the bedroom (nando なんど); the ‘small room’ (ko-beya こべや), likely also a bedroom, the wife’s room (*shufū-shitsu* 主婦室); and the husband’s room (*shujin-shitsu* 主人室). To the rear of the building is a separate storehouse (*kura* くら). A long wraparound verandah (*mawari-en* 回り縁) runs from the *shimo-zashiki* to the *daidoko*. The interior floor area, including the *doma* and *niwa,* is roughly 270 square metres.

An unusual feature of the plan are the partitioned areas, two ken long and half a ken wide (approx. 3.64m x 0.91m), above and below the bedroom (nando なんど); presumably these function as double-fronted closets, accessible from both the nando and from the rooms on either side of it. The area above the nando could have also been used as an internal corridor to allow the husband and wife to access their respective rooms from the everyday living area (daidoko だいどこ) without disturbing anyone in the nando, but it is more likely that the ‘wraparound verandah’ (mawari-en) was used to access these rooms; with the exception of the nando and the hikae-no-ma (ひかえのま), every room in the building is accessible via either the mawari-en, the other en (えん), or the doma/niwa. The strip between the ‘small room’ (kobeya こべや) and the wife’s room (shufū-shitsu 主婦室) appears to be a stair, with storage below.

The passage-like doma (どま), corresponding to the tо̄ri-niwa (通り庭) of the traditional townhouse (machiya 町家), opens out into the large niwa (にわ) and beyond it to the part earth-floored, part board-floored kitchen (nakashimoto なかしもと).