There is a transitional or intermediate minka plan-form between the completely unpartitioned single-space dwelling, exemplified by the Ainu chise, and dwellings that are partitioned with full-height, fixed interior walls. In this intermediate form, low, moveable partitions were used to mark out corners and perimeter areas of the interior for activities such as sleeping, eating, receiving guests, and cooking.
An example of this type of interior, shown below, can (or could) be found in the foothills of Mt Hakusan (Hakusan-roku 白山麓) in Ishikawa Prefecture. This A-frame construction (mata-date 股建て) farmer’s hut (dezukuri-koya 出作り小屋) has, like the chise, a single-space interior and an earthen-floored entry/utility space (doma 土間) or ‘ante-room’ (zenshitsu-doma 前室土間, lit. ‘front room doma’). Though this particular example is large for its type, it nevertheless demonstrates that these single-space dezukuri-koya dwellings differ little from chise in the way the various domestic activities are arranged within their open-plan interiors.
Floor plan of a reed thatch-walled (kaya-kabe 茅壁) A-frame construction (mata-tate-zukuri 股建て造り) single-space farmer’s ‘hut’ in the Mt Hakusan foothills. To the east (bottom) is the earth-floored ante-room (zenshitsu-doma 前室土間) containing the entry (iriguchi 入口) a basin (mizu-bune 水舟) fed by a bamboo pipe (かけひ), and a toilet (benjo 便所). This doma area was used for food storage (shokubutsu-chozо̄ 植物貯蔵), tool storage (dо̄gu-okiba 道具置場) and as a place of work (sagyо̄ba 作業場). Beyond the doma is the earth-floored (doza 土座) eating (shokuji 食事食事) and ‘family’ (danran 団らん) area, spread with mats (mushiro-shiki 莚敷). This area contains the fire pit (irori 地炉) around which the family positions are marked: husband (shujin 主人), wife (shufu 主婦), children (ko 子), guests (kyaku 客). There are two windows (mado まど) in the south wall. Also labelled are shelves (todanaとだな and nabedana 鍋棚), mortar (usu うす), and bundled straw (maki-wara 薪藁). At the rear of the interior is the ground joist (korobashi-neda 転ばし根太) and plank floor (ita-yuka 板床) family sleeping area (kazoku-shinjo 家族寝所), also used for food drying (shokubutsu kansо̄ 植物乾燥) and storage (iiiri? 飯入). In the back (west) wall is the Buddhist alcove (butsuma 仏間). There is also a ladder (hashigo はしご) up into the roof space (yane-ura 屋根裏). On the left (north) wall can be seen the sleeping area (shinjo 寝所) for the wife (shufu 主婦) and infants (yо̄ji 幼児), partitioned off with a 60cm high ‘fence’ (kakoi 囲い).
The medieval farmhouse minka of the remoter areas of the Tо̄hoku and Hokuriku regions of northern Japan are also said to have had some resemblance to chise in their interior layouts. Northern Japan (Hokkaidо̄ and northern Honshū) were, until historical times, occupied not by the Japanese but by the Jо̄mon-descended Ezo or Emishi (both written 蝦夷) people. The Emishi were gradually either absorbed or pushed further and further north by the Yayoi (弥生) agriculturalists who came to Honshū from the Korean peninsular from 300 BC, until by modern times only the Ainu of Hokkaidо̄ remained. The Ainu are generally thought to have descended, like the Emishi, from tribes of the Jōmon (縄文) people, and so the two groups are closely related, though not necessarily identical.
The similarities between Ainu (and presumably Emishi) chise and Japanese dezukuri-koya raise the question of who influenced who. Given that there was close contact and admixture between Yayoi-descended and Jо̄mon-descended groups over many centuries, the answer is probably complex and bi-directional. There was probably also a degree of convergent evolution between the respective groups’ dwellings, with the two groups existing under similar material, environmental (climactic) and even cultural conditions.
The ‘living’ part of the dezukuri-koya interior adjacent to the entrance is a ‘ground-living’ (doza-sumai 土座住まい) area, with the earth floor at ground level (hira-chi jūkyo平地住居) rather than sunken as was the case in more ancient dwellings. Further back is a ground joist (korobashi-neda 転ばし根太) and plank (ita 板) floored family sleeping area; at the very back is a recessed alcove for the Buddhist altar (butsuma 仏間).
Adjacent to the north wall is a kind of ‘pen’ area, formed with a 60cm high partition similar to makura-byо̄bu (枕屏風), the low screens still occasionally used today to give some privacy and draft protection to sleepers. The enclosure is roughly three tatami mats in area and is the sleeping place for a nursing mother and her infants. This arrangement suggests that in the development of the single-space dwelling into a partitioned interior, the first area to be separated off from the rest may have been the wife’s sleeping area. A hypothetical formal partitioning along these lines would result in a plan-form that could be regarded as a ‘front doma’ (mae-doma 前土間) subtype of the three room hiroma-gata (広間型) plan-form, common in the Hokuriku region.
A gabled, gable-entry, thatched A-frame farmer’s hut in Yamagata Prefecture, similar to the one shown in the floor plan above, but smaller and without an ante-room. The A-frame is somewhat bowed, giving the structure a ‘kamaboko (浦鉾, fish cake)’ form (kata 型). The entrance is simply closed off with a mat. The hut is roughly 10 tatami in area, about 30m2. It is located in remote mountain fields, so would have only been occupied in summer.
The interior of another farmer’s hut in the foothills of Mt Hakusan, Ishikawa Prefecture (not the same hut as those above). To the rear of the fire pit is the yokoza (横座), the seating place for the husband; beyond that is the sleeping area with various items related to this activity. At the right edge of the fire pit is the wife’s seating area; beside this is an area for firewood, food and other cooking-related items. The photograph is taken from the entrance.