ABSTRACT
The tokonoma} usually an alcove, is the most important part of the interior. Every home has one of these places of honor reserved for the Emperor in case he should call. Fresh flowers are placed under a decorative hanging in the tokonoma. The flowers are changed daily, and are purchased from the flower vendor who makes his daily rounds to fill this need. If the family is too poor to buy a hanging for the tokonoma some friend, not necessarily an artist, paints a poem or a simple scene for the space. They are by no means amateurish daubs, and are not to be compared with the kind of art work we can find in nearly every attic in America, the work given by a kindly but untrained painter.
