Traditional Japanese Homes Noka, Gyoka, Sanka or Machiya

Table Of Content

• The Traditional Features of a Kominka
• Tatami, Fusuma, and Shōji
• Kitchen of the Week: 7 Design Ideas to Steal from deVOL’s Latest Showroom
• Limited time offer: 10% discount coupons available now!
• Floor Plan Styles of Traditional Japanese Houses
• What are the key features of the traditional Japanese home?
• Remodelista Sites
• Modern Japanese houses

Small changes in floor-level are common in traditional Japanese houses, and kamachi is the term for the timber boards used as facings to cover the ends of the floor structure timbers where these levels change. In a Japanese genkan (entrance hall), the piece of timber that covers the step up into the house is called the agari-kamachi (see ⑧ in the irori illustration below). Minka are traditional Japanese residences constructed in a range of styles to suit their various geographical locations and the lifestyles of their inhabitants. Made from natural materials and built to last, these substantial buildings and the know-how that went into their construction have stood the test of time, withstanding ferocious storms and even earthquakes.

The Traditional Features of a Kominka

Airbnb offers special free stay at a traditional Japanese gassho house in a World Heritage Site - SoraNews24

Airbnb offers special free stay at a traditional Japanese gassho house in a World Heritage Site.

Posted: Sat, 24 Jun 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

However, the expense of buying and then renovating a kominka, combined with the almost non-existent return on investment, means that this is still a relatively uncommon labor of love for those who can afford it. Yet the reward for those who do take the plunge is living in a beautiful, historic, and spacious home in Japan's breathtaking countryside. Originally occupied by large families, and in some cases with added space for a few horses or cattle, there may be as many as four or five stories to a kominka home.

Tatami, Fusuma, and Shōji

This carpentry is so precise it doesn’t need to be covered up with moldings and trim. So, we almost never test-assemble anything—the joinery is so tight pieces would be damaged in trying to take them apart once assembled. Stacy Randall is a wife, mother, and freelance writer from NOLA that has always had a love for DIY projects, home organization, and making spaces beautiful. Together with her husband, she has been spending the last several years lovingly renovating her grandparent's former home, making it their own and learning a lot about life along the way.

Kitchen of the Week: 7 Design Ideas to Steal from deVOL’s Latest Showroom

Situated to the left of the master of the household and opposite the guest seat, the kakaza was also convenient to the kitchen area. The jizaikagi is a pot hook that allows a kettle or a cooking pot to be suspended over the hearth. It is adjustable so that the pot or kettle can be raised or lowered, depending on the level of heat required. This is where a servant might sit, or where bundles of firewood might be placed. The oza is the seating space allocated to a guest, next to the hearth and to the right of the head of the household, who would be seated in the yokoza position (5).

This porch-like structure is on the outside and functions as both an entryway and a corridor. Oshi-ire can be closets, or the little compartments above closets, used for expensive kimonos, beddings, or out-of-season clothes. These mostly hidden storage compartments are typical in a classic Japanese home. Children that grow up in these homes find these tucked-away spaces a delight for playing hide and seek. In western homes, this would translate to either the attic or the basement where we stash random stuff.

Floor Plan Styles of Traditional Japanese Houses

A kutsu-nugi ishi is a stone step or slab placed in front of the engawa or inside the main entrance to the house. Footwear can be removed here and left on the step before entering the house. The heavy roof and deep overhangs are an aesthetically important part of a traditional Japanese home. This roof is covered with ceramic tiles, which were unusual in this area where most homes used to be roofed with thatch. Although there might be some valuable collector pieces in a Japanese house, they were not locked in any way, and a burglar need do no more than slide open a window screen or even the front door.

What are the key features of the traditional Japanese home?

At sumo matches, crowds are known to throw their zabuton into the ring to protest an unpopular outcome. Many traditional architecture buildings are also enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage. Various styles have been developed over time to respond to several types of use, weather conditions varying according to the areas (typhoons, snowfalls, etc.) and to the frequent earthquakes. A genkan entrance hall with a getabako (left) for shoes and a tataki (foreground).

The rest of the house can then be built using cheaper modern construction techniques. One doesn’t necessarily need Japanese laundry rooms, storage rooms or garages. While traditional construction takes time, the process itself is crucial to the vitality of the architecture. The technical concepts focus on keeping the human-nature relationship a nourishing, fulfilling connection, one that brings people and wood into joyous harmony.

Many people hung artworks inside their homes, and these could take several forms. Hanging scrolls (kakemono or kakejiku) were made from either silk or paper and had a wooden pole at the bottom which served to weigh down the scroll flat against the wall and aid in rolling it up for storage. Scrolls, often hung in a purpose-built alcove (tokonoma) in the wall, showed either a painting or an example of fine calligraphy or a combination of both. In the case of paintings, these typically showed landscape scenes and were usually changed at the beginning of each of the four seasons so that they thematically matched the period in which they were viewed.

mixed-use wooden house showcases traditional japanese and global influences - Designboom

mixed-use wooden house showcases traditional japanese and global influences.

Posted: Fri, 01 Sep 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Like in many other different countries, you’ll find a nameplate and letterbox at the entrance to a Japanese house. Traditionally, nameplates are made out of stone and wood and feature the name of the resident family, spelled out in kanji characters. Recently, a lot of people opt for a nameplate out of modern material to match their house, and their name spelled with Roman characters. If someone is living with their parents, for example, it’s not uncommon to see two different names on the plate. The migration of younger people to the cities has left an aging population living in many of Japan's rural areas.

“To straddle the shikii” means “to frequently come and go,” while “the shikii is high” refers to a place that is awkward to visit. There are also 空き家 akiya, which are abandoned or vacant houses in rural areas of Japan. These are extremely low cost but are usually fixer-uppers, requiring a lot of time and patience. The entrance in a traditional Japanese house is made through the genkan . It is a hallway where one systematically removes his shoes before going further.

To keep external forces from affecting the building, the traditional methods focus on enabling the wooden structure to respond fluidly to force atop the cornerstones. Kominka are beautiful and traditional Japanese houses, most commonly found in rural areas of Japan, but even hid away in the cities in as well. Constructed using a number of ingenious yet practical design techniques, kominka houses were often both a place of work as well as a home, and usually built to a grand scale to accomodate a number of uses.

A shoji is a sliding panel that is made of translucent paper in a wooden frame. They help to give Japanese houses their character by allowing diffuse light and shadows through. Shōji are lighter than fusuma, with paper affixed to a wooden lattice. They prevent people from seeing through, but brighten up rooms by allowing light to pass.

The whole complex is heated by the irori and the floor is covered by tatami mats. To further divide different areas, fusuma (opaque sliding doors) are used, while elements like tenjo (decorative ceiling) and ramma (transom) are used to decorate the house. Think of a traditional Japanese house and what elements come to mind?

These storage spaces, hidden within walls, can be found all around a classic Japanese house. Another example is the tenbukuro, a little compartment usually above a closet, door, and so on. Many traditional Japanese houses also featured an “engawa,” or an outer corridor that circles the outside of the house. Some of the sliding partitions would open onto the engawa, which allowed residents to move to any other part of the house without having to walk through any other rooms. Kotatsu are a low table with an inbuilt electric heater covered by a heavy futon blanket.