This week’s post, something of a ‘part two’ to last week’s, presents more examples of four-room minka layouts.

The plan below, of the Ogura house (Ogura-ke 小椋家) in Shiga Prefecture, is another four-room layout in tsuma-toko (妻床) or ‘gable-end alcove’ style; in terms of the degree of openness of its bedroom (here heya へや), it might be considered an intermediate form somewhere between the Yamamoto house and the Nakashima house, both examined last week. The partitioning between the living-dining room (kamado かまど) and the heya is a motley collection, consisting of: a 1/2 ken (91cm) wide lath-and-plaster sode-kabe (袖壁, lit. ‘sleeve wall’) attached to and perpendicular to the exterior wall, and a three-track sill (shikii 敷居) and lintel (kamoi 鴨居) to receive two (fixed) itado and one sliding papered lattice panel (shouji 障子). This seemingly hybrid, semi-open, semi-closed arrangement carries a faint reminder of the heya’s role as a storage room, and together with the shallowness of the tsuma-doko, and the low eave height, indicate that this is an old minka. Part of the ‘cooking doma’ (suiji-doma 炊事土間), here called the uchi-niwa (うちにわ), is board-floored, which is customary of minka in mountain country.

The Ogura house. Labelled are: the *niwa* (にわ) with bath (*nyū-yoku* 入浴), entry *doma* (*iriguchi doma* 入口土間), and ‘dog stop’ (*inu-dome* 犬止め, presumably waist-height partitions), for farm work (*nо̄-sagyо̄* 濃作業); the inner *niwa* (*uchi-niwa* うちにわ), with stove, in-built closets for storage (*chozо̄* 貯蔵) and fuel (*nenryо̄* 燃料), and board-floored area with sink (*nagashi* ナガシ) and water (*mizu* 水), for food preparation (*tabemono chо̄sei* 食物調整); the dining-living room (*kamado* かまど) with firepit (*irori*, marked ro 炉) and shelves (*todana* 戸棚), for dining (*shokuji* 食事), family time (*danran* 団らん), and handwork (*te-shigoto* 手仕事); the bedroom (*heya* へや) for sleeping (*shūshin* 就寝) and storage of family possessions (*kazai shūnо̄* 家財収納); the *zashiki* (here *oku* おく), with gable-end shelves (*tana* たな) and decorative alcove (*toko* とこ), for ceremonies (*gyо̄ji* 行事), receiving guests (*sekkyaku* 接客), and sleeping (*shūshin* 就寝); and the ‘second room’, here *dei* (でい), used as a ‘spillover’ room for ceremonies, and for entertaining (*о̄tai* 応対) and courting (*kо̄sai* 交際).

The plan below, of the Morozumi house (Morozumi-ke 面角家) in Serigasawa (芹々沢), Nagano Prefecture, is a four-room layout in which the vestiges of the hiroma-gata (広間型) layout can still be seen to a degree. The presence of a rear or ‘inner’ zashiki (iri-no-zashiki いりのざしき) in addition to the front or facade-side zashiki (mae-de-no-zashiki まえでのざしき) indicates this as a kagi-zashiki style (kagi-zashiki-gata 鍵座敷型) layout; it is in addition in the ‘gable-end alcove’ style (tsuma-doko keishiki 妻床形式), meaning that the decorative alcoves (toko とこ), storage (mono-ire or mono-iri 物入), and Buddhist alcove (butsuma 仏間, marked manji 卍) are located in the gable walls of the zashiki. A ‘storeroom’ (nando), used as a bedroom and here called the ‘small zashiki’ (ko-zashiki こざしき), has been taken out of the rear of the multi-function hiroma, here called the ima (いま). Likewise the stable (maya まや) is at the rear of the doma in what is known as oku-umaya keishiki (奥厩形式, lit. ‘rear stable type’). There are many minka with this type of layout in the Shinshu (信州) region, and this four-room layout more generally is commonly seen in north-eastern Japan.