In this second entry on three-room layout (san-madori ３間取り) minka, we will consider the ‘front doma’ type (mae-doma-gata 前土間型), of which the plan below is a prototypical example.

The front-doma layout is a subtype of the hiroma type (hiroma-gata 広間型), but with the entry to the doma in the gable-end or short side, tsuma-gawa 妻側) of the building, rather than in the long side (hira-gawa 平側) as in the hiroma type. The use and arrangement of rooms in the gable-entry (tsuma-iri 妻入り) mae-doma-gata is identical to that of the side-entry (hira-iri 平入り) hiroma-gata, but the path of development is somewhat different. The front doma layout is common from northern Shiga Prefecture to the Hokuriku district Prefectures of Fukui, Ishikawa, and Toyama. The dwelling is an A-frame construction (mata-date-zukuri 股建て造り) ‘hut’ (kari-ya 仮家, lit. ‘temporary house’) in a mountainous region of Toyama Prefecture. The only interior partitions are mats hung from the roof beams. The three rooms have board floors, with the boards laid on korobashi-neda (転ばし根太), joists (neda 根太) that sit directly on the earth floor.

Plan of a prototypical front-*doma* type (*mae-doma-gata* 前土間型) three-room (*san-madori* ３間取り) dwelling, an A-frame construction (*mata-date-zukuri* 股建て造り) hut (*kari-ya* 仮家, lit. ‘temporary house’), partitioned with hanging mats. Labelled are the *doma*, here called *niwa* (にわ), with toilet (*benjo* べんじょ), window (*mado* まど), and hanging mat (*tsuri-mushiro* 吊り莚); the board-floored (*ita-shiki* 板敷) ‘living room’ (oe おえ) with sliding door (*hiki-do* 引き戸), firepit (*irori*, marked ro ろ), and paper-covered sliding partitions (*akari-shо̄ji* あかりしょうじ); the bedroom (*nedoko* ねどこ), and the combined Buddhist altar room (*butsuma* ぶつま) and storage room (*nando* なんど). Toyama Prefecture.

The plan below is of a minka in northern Nagano Prefecture, a thatch-walled (kaya-kabe 茅壁), ‘earth-living’ (doza 土座) dwelling of primitive character. The bedroom (nema ねま) is partitioned, but elsewhere partitions have not developed, and the interior remains largely open.

Plan of a thach-walled (*kaya-kabe* 茅壁) front-*doma* type (*mae-doma-gata* 前土間型) three-room layout (*san-madori* ３間取り) earth floor dwelling (*doza-sumai* 土座住まい). This plan gable-entry (*tsuma-iri* 妻入り) and without a *chūmon.*
Labelled are the *doma* (土間), called here the *niwa* (にわ), for agricultural work (*nо̄-sagyо̄* 農作業), food preparation (*tabemono chо̄sei* 食物調整) and food storage (*shokuryо̄ chozо̄* 食糧貯蔵); the earth-sitting (*doza* 土座) ‘living room’ (*naka-no-ma* なかのま), for handwork (*te-shigoto* 手仕事), dining (*shokuji* 食事), ‘family time’ (*danran* 団らん), entertaining guests (*о̄tai* 応対), and family sleeping (*kazoku shūshin* 家族就寝), with firepit (*irori*, marked ro 炉), sliding door (to と) with sill (*shikii* 敷居, marked *shi* し), threshold (*kamachi* カマチ), and mostly open (*kaihо̄* 開放) walls; the ground joist (*korobashi-neda* 転ばし根太) and board floored (*ita-yuka* 板床) *zashiki* (ざしき), for ceremonies (*gyо̄ji* 行事) and receiving guests (*sekkyaku* 接客), with Buddhist altar (*butsuma*, marked 卍); and the the earth-sitting bedroom (*nema* ねま) with hanging mat (*tsuri-mushiro* 吊り莚), for husband and wife sleeping (*fūfu shūshin* 夫婦就寝) and storage (*shūnо̄* 収納). Nagano Prefecture.

The photograph below, of the interior of a three-room minka in Nagano Prefecture, shows a very similar layout to those shown in the plans above, except that the plan is mirror-flipped, with the bedroom on the left and the zashiki on the right. A more significant difference is that the building is a chūmon-zukuri (中門造り) structure, a form of L-plan minka where the doma extends out from the facade (to the right in the photograph), and this extension (chūmon 中門, lit. ‘central gate’) contains the entry passage and adjoining stable (umaya 厩). The positioning of the entry in the chūmon, on the long side of the building, effectively makes this a type of hiroma-gata layout rather than a front-doma layout.

Interior view of a front-*doma* type (*mae-doma-gata* 前土間型) three-room (*san-madori* ３間取り) earth floor dwelling (*doza-sumai* 土座住まい). From front to back are the *doma*, then the *hiroma*, then the rearmost rooms, a *zashiki* on the right and bedroom (*shinshitsu* 寝室) on the left. Only the bedroom is enclosed; elsewhere there is nothing in the way of partitions, with the divisions between rooms only marked by stepped threshold members (*kamachi* 框). The bedroom, with hanging mat (*tsuri-mushiro* 吊り莚) over the entrance, is more of a sleeping closet or ‘step-in’ (*fumi-komi* 踏込み) room; perhaps, given its high sill (*shiki-i* 敷居), ‘step-over’ would be a more apt translation. Nagano Prefecture.

The Shinano-Akiyama no Minka (信濃秋山の民家), the former Yamada residence (kyū-Yamada-ke jūtaku 旧山田家住宅), is another example of the chūmon-zukuri plan-form, with the entry in the chūmon rather than in the gable end. It can be found at the Open Air Museum of Japanese Farmhouses (Nihon Minka Shūraku Hakubutsukan 日本民家集落博物館) in Toyonaka City (豊中市), О̄saka Prefecture, to where it was relocated from its original site in Akiyama-gо̄ (秋山郷), an area that straddles the border between Nagano and Niigata Prefectures.; it is a nationally-designated important cultural property (kuni-shitei jūyо̄-bunkazai 国指定重要文化財).