After covering single-space dwellings (tanshitsu sumai 単室住まい) and one-room dwellings (hito-ma sumai ひと間住まい) in the previous five posts in this series on minka planning, the logical next step is to consider two-room dwellings (futa-ma sumai 二間住まい). Obviously the addition of a second room, and then the development of two-room minka into dwellings of three, four or more rooms, introduces many more complexities and layout possibilities than are possible in a one-room dwelling, and so this and subsequent sections will be correspondingly longer.
The two-room plan-form (futa-madori-gata 二間取り型 or ni-shitsu-gata２室型) consists of three spaces: 1) the (usually) earth-floored utility area (doma 土間), which is considered a ‘given’ and not counted as a room; 2) a multi-functional ‘living room’; and 3) a room whose name, nema (寝間, lit. ‘sleep space’) for example, generally relates to its role as a bedroom, but which also doubles as a space for various other activities during the day. The arrangement of these three spaces relative to one another in any minka determines the classification of its plan-form into one of two general types: 1) ‘transverse division’ (tate bunwari 竪分割; tate 竪 is often translated as ‘vertical’ but has a wider, harder to capture sense of ‘height’, ‘front-back’, ‘north-south’, etc.), in which the internal partition between the two rooms runs transversely, i.e. perpendicular to the roof ridge; and 2) ‘longitudinal division’ (yoko bunwari 横分割; yoko 割 can mean ‘horizontal’, but also ‘side-to-side’ etc.), in which the principal partition is longitudinal, i.e. parallel to the ridge. These two types form the basis for all other multi-room layouts.
The table below presents plan-forms for (from left to right) one-room (hito-ma sumai ひと間住まい, here isshitsu-gata １室型) , two-room (ni-shitsu-gata ２室型), three-room (san-shitsu-gata ２室型), four-room (yon-shitsu-gata ４室型) with its ‘staggered’ (kui-chigai 食違い) and ‘standard’ (hyо̄jun 標準) regular (seikei 整形) forms (kata 型), and multi-room (tashitsu-gata 多室型) minka. The ridges of these dwellings run left-right (horizontally) on the page; doma are omitted but should be visualised as positioned to the right of the rooms in each plan.
Ideally, minka are oriented with one long side facing south, and this side is the front or façade of the dwelling; although of course in reality topography and other considerations mean that there are plenty of minka oriented in other directions, minka almost always have a dominant façade. In the table, the façade corresponds to the lower edge of the plans, i.e. north is at the top of the page, south at the bottom, east to the right, and west to the left). This means that there are two ‘front/public - rear/private’ axes at play in the typical minka: the east-west (right-left in the table) axis that relates to the position of the (east-positioned) doma, and the south-north (bottom-top in the table) axis that relates to the position of the façade, or ultimately to the position of the midday sun.
There are really only two possible two-room plan-forms: tate bunwari (竪分割) and yoko bunwari (横分割). In the prototypical tate bunwari plan, both rooms run the full width of the house. The ‘front room’, corresponding functionally to a ‘living room’ and called the hiroma (ひろま) in the table, is adjacent to and fully bounds the doma. The ‘back room’, here called the zashiki (ざしき), has no direct access to the doma; to reach the doma from the zashiki one must pass through the hiroma. Both rooms have access to the southern façade, and on this axis each room has its own front/public half to the south and rear/private half to the north. In tate bunwari the east-west doma axis is arguably the dominant of the two axes.
In yoko bunwari, both rooms bound roughly half the doma on their short sides; in the table, the ‘front’ or ‘living’ room is called the omote (おもて) and the rear ‘bedroom’ is called the nema (ねま). The doma can be accessed directly from either room, but only the omote has façade access; in yoko bunwari, the south-north façade axis is arguably dominant.
Classification table of various minka plan-forms. The two possible two-room layouts are shown in the second column under the heading ni-shitsu-gata (２室型).
Two-room minka were common among both the farmhouses (nо̄-minka 農民家) of low-status Edo period farmers, and the minka of the poor into recent times. In these houses, there were no distinguished guests or any need to host formal gatherings, and these simple plan-forms can be regarded as fulfilling all the requirements of the inhabitants. The plan below shows a fully earth-floored dwelling (doza-sumai 土座住まい) with a ‘transverse division’ (tate bunwari 竪分割) layout, with the sub-classification ‘longitudinal line-up two-room’ (heiretsu ni-madori 併列２間取り). This somewhat confusing and apparently contradictory terminology will be explained in next week’s post. The dwelling is primitive, with almost nothing in the way of openings. Such houses can be found in cold, snowy regions, where the deep accumulation of snow (multiple metres in some areas) in winter makes openings somewhat ineffective for the purpose of maximising natural light into the interior; to the contrary, windows are a liability in terms of thermal performance, so it makes sense that the dwelling essentially functions as a den or lair over the winter months.
A west-facing two-room (ni-madori２間取り) dwelling with doma (土間) and the two rooms: the general living room (zashiki ざしき) and sleeping room (dei でい). Typically the zashiki denotes the more formal, inner area, but here the nomenclature is seemingly reversed, with the dei taking that role; what is here called the zashiki is more usually called the hiroma or omote. The doma is used for farmwork (nо̄-sagyо̄ 農作業), food storage (shokuryо̄ chozо̄ 食糧貯蔵), and contains the entrance (iriguchi 入口), bath (furo ふろ), and a plank-floored area for cooking (suiji 炊事), dining (shokuji 食事), and handwork (teshigoto 手仕事). The 18-mat zashiki is for dining (shokuji 食事), family (danran 団らん), socialising (kо̄sai 交際), and sleeping (shūshin 就寝). The 9-mat dei is for sleeping (shūshin 就寝), faith-related activity (shinkо̄ 信仰), and receiving guests (о̄tai 応対). Both the zashiki and dei are earth-floored (doza 土座), though covered in mats, and have ‘slat’ ceilings (sunoko tenjо̄ すのこ天井) In addition there is a stable (maya まや), toilet (shо̄ben 小便), sink (nagashi ナガシ), shelves (todana 戸棚), storage for valuables (kazai shūnо̄ 家財収納), closet or robe (oshi-ire 押入), and Buddhist altar (卍). Yamagata Prefecture.
The development of this plan-form into more complex layouts, as shown in the plan diagrams below (though note that the doma is on the right, not on the left as in the plan above), begins with separating off the sleeping area (nema 寝間) into a proper room, giving a hiroma-gata (広間型) three-room (san-madori ３間取り) plan-form; the zashiki (座敷) also becomes timber-floored (yuka-za 床座). The plan then further develops into a four-room (yon-madori ４間取り) layout, either staggered (kui-chigai 食違い) or (as here) regular (seikei 整形), and a perimeter corridor is wrapped around the living areas of the house, giving it a more open character. The nema remains earth-floored, however, suggesting that the old customs of the region were not lightly tossed aside in the face of ‘modernisation’.
An example illustrating how an entirely earth-floored (doza 土座) two-room (ni-madori ２間取り) minka (left) with ‘formal room’ (zashiki 座敷, shortened here to za 座) and ‘living room’ (ima 居間, shortened here to i 居) areas evolves into a three-room (ni-madori ２間取り) plan-form by partitioning a bedroom (nema 寝間, shortened to ne 寝) off from the zashiki; this then becomes a regular (seikei 整形) four-room (yon-madori ４間取り) layout by partitioning off a dining (shokuji 食事, here shoku 食) room from the main living area. Yamagata Prefecture.