Shown below is a plan-form common in the Kawachi (河内) district (in what is now О̄saka Prefecture) of the Yamato region of western Japan. The plan is classified as a ‘longitudinal division’ or yoko-bunwari (横分割) layout. Confusingly, it also falls under the sub-classifications jūretsu-gata (縦列型, lit. ‘transverse line-up type’) or tate-narabi (竪ならび or 竪並び, lit. ‘transverse line-up’); these sub-classifications are redundant in the case of two-room minka and add no information to the yoko-bunwari classification, but will become significant when we get around to considering minka with three or more rooms.
At this point a digression into plan-form naming conventions might be in order (refer to table below for the schematic representation). The seeming contradiction of a plan being described as both ‘longitudinal’ (yoko 横) and ‘transverse’ (tate 縦 or 竪) can be explained by the fact that, while the direction of the divisions (the walls) is longitudinal (yoko), the resultant ‘ganging’ or ‘stacking’ of the rooms is in the transverse direction (tate), just as if you stack some blocks into a tower, the lines between the blocks are horizontal (yoko), but the tower itself is vertical (tate).
Conversely, the other main classification of minka plan-forms, ‘transverse division’ or tate-bunwari (竪分割), has its own sub-classifications: heiretsu-gata (併列型 or 並列型), lit. ‘parallel/horizontal line-up type’; hei 併 can be considered equivalent in meaning to yoko, i.e. ‘longitudinal’) and yoko-narabi (横ならび or 横並び, lit. ‘longitudinal line-up’). In this case, while the direction of the divisions (the walls) is transverse (tate), the resultant ‘ganging’ or ‘stacking’ of the rooms is in the longitudinal direction (yoko), just as the lines between the books on a bookshelf are vertical (tate), but the line of books itself is horizontal (yoko). Again these sub-classifications are redundant in the case of two-room minka and add no information to the tate-bunwari classification until we get to discussing three-room minka.
At any rate, the plan features a large doma, here called a niwa (にわ) with an enclosure near the entrance called the shimo-mise (しもみせ) or shimo-beya (しもべや) for the storage of agricultural implements; in other regions there would normally be a stable (umaya 廐) in this position. At the rear of the doma is the kama-ya (釜屋), the cooking area containing the stove (kama 釜). In front of the kama-ya is a bulkhead (tare-kabe 垂れ壁, lit. ‘hanging wall’) whose purpose is to prevent smoke from the stove from spreading to the habitable rooms of the house. The front part of the timber-floored (yuka-za 床座) area is occupied by the public-facing (omote-muki 表向き) room called the oku (おく), equivalent of the zashiki (座敷); at the rear is the oie (おいえ), corresponding to a ‘family/dining’ room. At the boundary of the niwa and the raised floor rooms is a kind of ochi-en (落ち縁, lit. ‘dropped edge’), a board-floored area lower than the raised floor rooms but higher than the niwa. Here the ochi-en is called a hamayuka (浜床, lit. ‘shore floor’) or hiroshiki (広敷, lit. ‘wide spread’). In older minka, instead of a fixed ochi-en there might have been a moveable oki-yuka-tsukue (置床几, lit. ‘put floor table’). There are closets (oshi-ire 押入) in the two rooms, but no decorative alcove (tokonoma 床の間) or Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇).
A 縦列型２間取り in the Kawachi district of О̄saka Prefecture. The smaller plans below the main plan show the plan-form development of minka in this area from single-room, to extension of the interior by the enclosure of the area under the eaves into a two-room plan, further extending and enclosing the eaves, adding a bedroom to make a front-zashiki three-room layout (mae-zashiki-gata san-madori 前座敷型３間取り), to the addition of a ‘Buddha room’ (butsuma 仏間) to arrive at a regular four-room plan-form (seikei yon-madori 整形４間取り).
The five plan diagrams below the main floor plan present the simplest path of evolution of this plan-form. The one-room dwelling is the departure point; first the perimeter area under the eaves is infilled and the dwelling expands into a two-room dwelling; the plan develops into a front-zashiki layout (mae-zashiki-gata 前座敷型) and then into a regular four-room layout (seikei yon-madori 整形４間取り). A board ‘verandah’ (nure-en 濡れ縁) is added at the front of the zashiki, making the space more open and formal in character. The two-room ‘longitudinal division’ (yoko-bunwari 横分割) minka characteristic of this region does not evolve into a regular four-room layout (seikei yon-madori 整形４間取り) via a three-room hiroma-gata san-madori (広間型３間取り) stage, as is the case with the ‘transverse division’ (tate-bunwari 竪分割) plan-form, but rather via an intermediate three-room front-zashiki (mae-zashiki-gata san-madori 前座敷型３間取り) stage.
Table of plan-form classifications.
Note the different paths taken by the two possible forms of two-room layout (here ni-shitsu-gata ２室型) in their evolution into regular (seikei 整形) or staggered (kui-chigai 食違い) four-room layouts (yon-madori ４間取り): the ‘transverse division’ (tate-bunwari 竪分割) two-room layout first becomes a ‘hiroma-type’ three-room layout (hiroma-gata san-madori 広間型３間取り) before gaining a fourth room; whereas the ‘longitudinal division’ (yoko-bunwari 横分割) two-room layout first becomes a ‘front zashiki’ three-room layout (mae-zashiki-gata san-madori 前座敷型３間取り) before gaining a fourth room.
Exterior view of a two-room jūretsu-gata (縦列) minka similar to that shown in the plan above. The exterior is extended out under the tiled eaves. О̄saka Prefecture.
The plans below are another example of a two-room ‘transverse line-up’ (jūretsu ni-madori 縦列２間取り) minka evolving over a series of incremental expansions into a regular four-room layout (seikei yon-madori 整形４間取り) with a large and complex doma (どま).
A minka in Nagano prefecture that over successive additions has developed from its initial ‘transverse line-up’ layout (jūretsu ni-madori 縦列２間取り), with a strongly closed character, into a regular four room plan-form (seikei yon-madori 整形４間取り). First the doma is extended and organised into different functional areas. Finally the raised-floor part is extended with the addition of formal rooms for receiving guests. Labelled are the earth-floored doma (どま) with entrance (о̄to 大戸), ‘bedroom’ (goza (ござ), ‘living room’ (chanoma ちゃのま, lit. ‘tea room’), ‘tool room’ (miso-beya みそべや), kitchen (daidokoro だいどころ), stable (umaya うまや), firepit (irori いろり), sink (nagashi ながし), toilet (benjo 便所), stove (kamado かまど), shelving (todana 戸棚), rice (kome 米), closet (oshi-ire 押入), decorative alcove (toko とこ), front formal room (mae-deno-zashiki まえでのざしき), rear formal room (oku-deno-zashiki おくでのざしき), verandah (nure-en 濡れ縁, not labelled), ‘god shelf’ (kami-dana 神棚) and Buddhist altar (butsudan 仏壇) indicated with a swastika (manji 卍). The black circles represent the original or ‘old’ posts (ko-bashira 古柱); the circles with diagonal line through them are ‘middle old’ posts (chūko-bashira) added in the second stage; open circles are the ‘new’ posts (shin-bashira) added in the third stage.