Next up in this series on three-room minka is what I will call the ‘parallel lineup’ three-room layout (jūretsu-gata san-madori 縦列型三間取り), in which the three rooms are arrayed, or lined up, so that each room shares part of the room-doma boundary; in other words, the three rooms are lined up along, and in parallel with, the room-doma boundary axis, with the partitions or divisions between these rooms being perpendicular to this axis. In most rural three-room layouts, this results in a building that is longer along the room-doma axis, i.e. the room-doma axis is the long axis of the building. In a fully-detached building such as a farmhouse, the logical structural outcome of this arrangement is that the roof ridge is parallel to room-doma boundary axis, so the rooms are also arrayed along the ridge axis. The key point is that when classifying minka layouts according to how the rooms are arrayed, the reference axis is the room-doma boundary axis, not the ridge axis: as we shall see, there are also ‘parallel lineup’ layouts in which the ridge axis is perpendicular to the room-doma boundary axis.
The precursor or prototype of the three-room parallel lineup layout can be seen in the plan below, discussed in a previous post: a two-room (ni-shitsu ２室) parallel lineup layout minka in the Karabitsu (唐櫃) district in Hokusetsu (北摂), current day Hyо̄go Prefecture. It might be better termed a 2.5 room layout, where the nuri-gome (塗りごめ, an area for sleeping or storage with fully-plastered exterior walls) created in one corner of the daidokoro (だいどころ) has been fully partitioned off as a proper room (heya へや), but the horizontal partition returns vertically into the external wall instead of extending straight to the doma boundary, so there is still a sense in which the heya is not a fully-fledged room but remains part of and subordinate to the daidokoro.
A two-room (ni-shitsu ２室) ‘transverse lineup’ (jūrets-gata 縦列型) minka, precursor to three-room transverse lineup layouts like the Izumi house.
The parallel lineup layout is commonly seen among farmhouses (nо̄-minka 濃民家 or nо̄-ka 農家) in the Tanba (丹波) district and surrounds, corresponding to parts of modern-day Kyо̄to, Hyо̄go, and О̄saka Prefectures. A representative three-room example is shown in the plan below, of the former Izumi residence (Izumi-ke 泉家), a farmhouse that has been relocated to the Open Air Museum of Old Japanese Farm Houses (Minka Shūraku Hakubutsukan 民家集落博物館) in Toyonaka City and is designated an important cultural property. The building originally stood in the Nose district (Nose chihо̄ 能勢地方) of О̄saka prefecture, which adjoins Tanba.
Plan of the Izumi residence. Labelled are the deep ‘porch’ (en えん) for ‘entertaining' (о̄tai 応対), handwork (te-shigoto 手仕事), and tool storage (dо̄gu okiba 道具置場); sheltered entry area for fuel storage (nenryо̄ chozо̄ 燃料貯蔵); stable (maya まや) for raising livestock (kachiku shi-iku 家畜飼育) and composting (taihizо̄sei 堆肥造成); earth-floored utility area (niwa にわ) with entry (doma iriguchi 土間入口), sink (hashiri はしり), and stove (kudo くど), for food storage (shokuryо̄ chozо̄ 食糧貯蔵) and agricultural work (nо̄-sagyо̄ 濃作業); the zashiki (ざしき) for ceremonies (gyо̄ji 行事), receiving guests (sekkyaku 接客) and sleeping (shūshin 就寝), with closet (iriguchi, marked 入) and Buddhist alcove with altar (marked 卍); the living-dining room (daidoko だいどこ) with board (ita 板) floor, edge-located firepit (irori いろり), and shelf closet (todana 戸棚), for dining (shokuji 食事), family time (danran 団らん), entertaining (о̄tai 応対), and handwork; and the bedroom (nando なんど), for sleeping and storage of family possessions (kazai shūnо̄ 家財格納).
On the entry side of the gable-entry Izumi residence there is a do-bisashi or tsuchi-bisashi (土庇), a deep eave supported by posts. In minka of the same type found in the Nishiyama district of Kyо̄to, this element is called the mage (真下), and under it there is a bench-like (endaijou 縁台状) board floor known as a hama-yuka (浜床, lit. ‘shore floor’) or hama-en (浜縁, lit. ‘shore edge’); in the Izumi residence there is an open hiro-en (広縁, lit. ‘spacious edge’), which is a ‘verandah’ (engawa 縁側) or ‘porch’ whose substantial depth gives it greater utility for a range of purposes: in this case, reception of guests (о̄tai 応対), handwork (te-shigoto 手仕事), and drying of cereals (kokumotsu 穀物).
On entering there is a stable (umaya, here maya) on the left and zashiki on the right, completely closed off from the doma (here niwa) with a board wall (ita-kabe 板壁), except for a single-leaf sliding door; this is an old-fashioned method of partition.
The niwa to the rear of the stable contains a sink (nagashi-dai 流し台, here hashiri) and stove (kamado かまど, here kudo) and is used for cooking and farm work; the daidoko, facing and open to the niwa, is the place for activities centred around the firepit (irori いろり). The nando (なんど) at the very rear is used as a bedroom (nema 寝間) and is open to the daidoko only via a single koshi-taka shо̄ji (腰高障子), a sliding panel with an upper half of paper-covered lattice and lower half of thin board; the rest of the nando is completely closed.
The development of this type of minka is illustrated in the first row of four plans shown below. It starts out as a parallel lineup three-room layout (jūretsu-gata san-madori 縦列型三間取り, the first plan). Then, in the second plan, the nando to the rear of the daidoko is moved and the minka becomes a front-zashiki type (mae-zashiki gata 前座敷型) layout; the border between the daidoko and the niwa is now longer, making the daidoko more convenient to use. Additionally, the sink is moved to the rear gable wall, and next to it a rear or back door (ura-toguchi 裏戸口) is added, and the entry doma (doma iriguchi 土間入口) and niwa (にわ) are partitioned off from one another (presumably there is a door in this partition). The opening between the zashiki and doma is widened, and rain shutters (amado 雨戸) are added to the hiro-en, resulting in an ‘enclosed verandah’ (nai-en 内縁).
In the next stage (the third plan), the partition line between the nando and the daidoko is extended forward through the zashiki to divide it into two rooms: a smaller, formal or ‘public-facing’ zashiki, and a living room-like room ima (居間), resulting in a regular four-room layout (seikei yon-madori (整形４間取り). The nando is fully opened up on its daidoko side, reducing its closed character. Finally, the entrance door is moved forward, and the hiro-en is expanded and ‘roomified’ (heya-ka 部屋化).
In the fourth plan, the minka becomes a regular six-room layout (seikei roku-madori (整形６間取り). An ‘entrance zashiki’ (genkan-zashiki 玄関座敷) develops, with attached shikidai (式台), a ‘running board’ type step at intermediate height between the doma or ground and the raised floor. The zashiki are formalised with ‘picture rails’ (nageshi 長押) and equipped with decorative alcoves (toko とこ) and shelves, and a ‘wraparound verandah’ (mawari-en 周り縁) is added to the exterior. The daidoko becomes a central chanoma (茶の間), used only for dining; the rear rooms are bedrooms or storerooms, and are completed by adding closets (oshi-ire 押入) and shelving (todana 戸棚).
The top row of plans show the development of a parallel lineup layout in the Nose district. Note that on the second plan「外縁」(gai-en, ‘external verandah' should read 「内縁」 (nai-en, ‘enclosed verandah').
The bottom row of four plans show the development of the parallel lineup three-room layout (jūretsu-gata san-madori 縦列型三間取り, the first plan) into a ‘merchant house' (shо̄-ka 商家, the second plan), where the zashiki has moved to the rear and a shop (mise 店) and ‘lower shop' (shita-mise 下店 are added at the street/entry facade. Then in thetownhouse (machiya 町家) the zashiki and ‘living-dining room' swap places. Finally the machiya expands sideways into a ‘twin parallel lineup' (ni-retsu-tate-narabe ２列竪ならべ) with six rooms.
Legend: stable (u 牛), zashiki (za 座), living-dining or dining room (dai 台), bedroom (ne 寝), living room (i 居), shop (mise 店).
Other than the farmhouses of the Tanba area, the parallel lineup layout has also achieved universal distribution in the Japanese urban environment, in the form of the townhouse or machiya (町家), a building which is both a dwelling and a place of commercial activity, where the doma (called the tо̄ri-niwa 通り庭, lit. ‘passage niwa’) runs from the narrow entrance facade through to the rear, with the line of the roof ridge being perpendicular to the room-doma boundary axis, and the two slopes of the gable roof draining to the front and back of the deep, narrow lot. Though these two minka typologies may share the same general classification in terms of layout, both the orientation of the roof ridge in relation to the room-doma boundary and the location of the zashiki differ between them; the mode of occupation between each is also markedly different.