JAPANESE MINKA VII - FOUR ROOM LAYOUTS

The four room type (yon-madori gata) represents something of a point of completion or fulfilment in the evolution of the minka, having first appeared in the relatively advanced and affluent Kinki region at the beginning of the Edo Period (1603 - 1867), and from there spreading around the country.

In this type, as the name suggests, the raised floor portion of the minka is divided into four rooms; in the paradigm example below, the divisions are in the form of a cross, known in Japanese as the ta-no-ji-gata-madori, ta being the Japanese character for rice paddy, ‘田’. In this example the four rooms are the ‘everyday’ room, here called the dei; behind it the katte for eating; the formal zashiki; and behind it, the heya for sleeping.

In the following examples the rooms have different names, but the functions are the same. In them we can see how the ta form can be easily adapted to meet the ‘weighting’ requirements of the various rooms, simply by shifting one of the lines of partition off centre.

Any later development of the minka beyond the four room type, such as minka with five, six, or more rooms, or minka with multiple wings or other complex plan-forms, is limited to a relatively small number of examples of upper class dwellings rather than types per se, and are thus difficult to fit into any generalising classification system.

JAPANESE MINKA VI - THREE ROOM LAYOUTS 2

Last week we examined the three room layouts that evolved within the tatebunwari pattern, where the basic principle of room division is that of transverse ‘columns’ across the dwelling - the room adjacent to the doma (typically called the hiroma) bounds the doma for its full width, and the rooms further ‘in’ are generally parallel to the hiroma and also span the full width of the dwelling. This week we will look at the other subgroup of three room layouts: those that developed from the yokobunwari pattern, where room divisions are longitudinal, and more than one room bounds the doma.

The first subtype of the yokobunwari pattern is called the mae-zashiki-gata 前座敷型or ‘front zashiki’ type. In the example of this type shown below, we have the front zashiki of the title, where more formal or public-facing activities would take place, and also possibly more utilitarian activities in the area of the zashiki bordering the doma. To the rear of the zashiki are two rooms: the doma-bordering daidoko 台所, where eating of meals and other household activities were undertaken. The daidoko might also be used for sleeping. At the most ‘interior’ part of the dwelling is the nema 寝間, used mainly for sleeping.

The maezashiki type, yokobunwari pattern.

The second type is called the tatenarabi sanma-dori 竪ならび三間取り which I will call the ‘row type’ in contrast to the ‘column type’ discussed in the last post. Here the three rooms are arranged parallel to one another so that each borders the doma on their short side. The example below is typical, with again the front zashiki, the middle daidoko, and the rear heya for sleeping.

Tatenarabi sanma-dori type of the yokobunwari pattern.

Analysing these patterns and layouts and contemplating the possibilities inherent to each pattern and type can be a productive exercise for any architect or designer. Without corridors or other distracting auxiliary spaces, they have the purity of architects’ schematic bubble diagrams, but made real; there is an appealing directness and clarity to the functional and spatial relationships they contain.

JAPANESE MINKA V - THREE ROOM LAYOUTS

Further to last week’s post on two room layouts and the two ways in which these rooms can be arranged - the tatebunwari and yokobunwari patterns - I would now like to examine the sub-variations that emerge from these two patterns when they are developed into three room layouts, beginning this week with tatebunwari layouts.

The tatebunwari pattern can be further broken down into two sub-types: the heiretsugata, or what I will call the ‘column type’ layout, and the hiromagata or ‘hiroma type’ layout.

In the heiretsugata type, the rooms are arranged in transverse ‘columns,’ with the ‘outermost’ room fully and exclusively bordering the doma. In the example shown below, this room is called the gozen, typically where meals, family ‘together time’ and handwork would take place; further in comes the omote, for sleeping and other activities, and then the innermost tsubone, for receiving guests and other more ceremonial or formal activities.

A typical tatebunwari pattern minka of the subtype heiretsugata or ‘column’ type.

In the hiromagata type, the ‘everyday’ space (in the example below called the hiroma) again fully borders the doma. Hiroma in general usage simply means a wide or large room; in the context of rural minka it is the ‘general’ room for eating and other everyday activities. The inner portion of the raised floor area is here divided not transversely but longitudinally, into the rear heya (literally ‘room’) for sleeping, and the front zashiki, a formal space for the entertaining of guests, etc.

A typical tatebunwari pattern minka of the subtype hiromagata or ‘hiroma type’.

JAPANESE MINKA IV - TWO ROOM LAYOUTS

In its simplest and probably most common form, the minka is rectilinear in plan, and so a useful way of thinking about the internal partitioning and functional organisation of the minka is in terms of two axes: the longitudinal and the transverse. The transverse axis might be thought of as the ‘front-back’ axis, with the front as the public side, the ‘face’ of the house, ideally the south or sun side, and the back the private, ‘dark’ side; the longitudinal axis might be thought of as the ‘in-out’ axis, with the doma at the public, ‘out’ end and the most private or formal areas at the ‘in’ end. This can be illustrated by the following example of the hito-ma or ‘single room’ minka discussed in last week’s post.

Two room minka are a natural evolution from the single room typology and represent a greater need for functional differentiation and/or a greater level of affluence. Two room minka were still typically found amongst the lower and poorer strata of society, however, and as such they were only required to fulfill the most essential functions of everyday life, with relatively little ‘specialisation’ of spaces, and little need for exclusively formal rooms for activities such as entertaining guests or conducting ceremonies.

The single room layout can be developed into a two room configuration in one of two ways, depending on which axis the ‘room’ in the above plan is divided. In the tatebunwari (竪分割) or ‘transverse partition’ type, the room is divided transversely, so that the doma and the two rooms are arranged in series along the ‘in-out’ axis. In the example shown below, the hiroma 広間 is roughly equivalent to a living room, an every day space for eating, handwork, etc. and also used for sleeping. The zashiki 座敷 is a more formal space than the hiroma, for the use of the master of the house and his guests.

A two room minka of the ‘vertical division’ type.

In the yokobunwari (横分割) or ‘longitudinal partition’ type, the room is divided longitudinally, so that the two rooms are on the ‘front-back’ axis, and each borders onto the doma. In the below example, the nema (寝間) is a sleeping space, but also used for other activities. The omote (表 or おもて) is the more formal ‘front room,’ but not typically as reserved in its use as the zashiki.

A two room minka of the ‘horizontal division’ type.

JAPANESE MINKA III - SINGLE ROOM LAYOUTS

After looking at the ancient antecedents of the minka in the previous two posts - the tateana pit dwelling and the takayuka raised floor dwelling - in this post we will examine the first step in the evolution of the minka proper- the combination of these two archetypes.

Note also that here we will be considering only the subcategory of minka known as nou-minka, the rural farmhouse, and not the better-known machiya, the urban townhouses so characteristic of cities like Kyoto.

To anyone with both romantic and ascetic inclinations, the purity of minka interiors is compelling. Without internal corridors and often without permanent internal partitions, even many ‘multiple room’ minka are still in a sense one-room dwellings, or at least ‘one space’ dwellings, united under a single ceilingless roof.

Interior view showing the roof structure of the Hakogi sennenya, the oldest extant minka in Japan, dated to the late Muromachi era (1336 - 1573)

The vast majority of minka consist of both a doma, the earthen-floored area which contains the dwelling entrance and is used for cooking and ‘utility’ work, and where footwear remains on; and the timber-framed raised floor takayuka, which is generally accessed by ‘going up’ via the doma after footwear is removed. Since the doma is universally present, it can be omitted in analyses of the interior layout, and any count of the number of rooms in the minka does not include the doma. So a ‘one-room’ minka contains two areas that are functionally differentiated, but in most cases not physically divided and so constituting a single space: the doma, which is not considered a ‘room’, and and the takayuka, which is.

As the humblest and simplest of minka, one-room layouts were found all over Japan, often for the use of religious or other ‘retirees.’ This single space happily accommodated all the activities of pre-modern daily life, and, as is the case with single-space dwellings of other cultures around the world, the apparent simplicity of the plan belies the unspoken but well-evolved and sometimes severe conventions that dictate the use of the space, conventions that display what you might call ‘folk rationality.’

In the example from Shiga Prefecture shown below, the doma (here called niwa) is used for cooking, indoor farm-work, and the storage of food and agricultural implements; the threshold area of the takayuka heya (literally ‘room’) adjacent to the niwa is used for taking meals and ‘handwork’; the narrow nure-en or ‘verandah’ along the facade is used for conversing with neighbours and as the entry point for guests, who were received in the area in front of the butsudan or Buddhist altar; the ‘back’ corner of the heya in front of the tokonoma or alcove was used for sleeping. In this informal division of the space by function, we can see the germ of later multi-room minka in which the single room has been partitioned off into three, but the functional relationships nevertheless remain intact.

A hito-ma or one room dwelling showing the functional division of the space.