ABSTRACT
THE Japanese house principally differs from that of other nations in its want of substantiality. It is fixed to no foundations, for it merely rests upon unhewn stones placed at intervals beneath it, and it usually consists of a panel-work of wood either unpainted, or painted black on the exterior faee; sometimes it is of plaster, but this is the exceptiun. Its roof is either shingled, tiled,· or thatched with hay (lcaya). No chimneys break its sky line, for fires are seldom used. Where they are, their smoke issues from a hole left at the top of the angle of the gable. The worst side of the house is usually turned towards the street, the artistic towards the garden. The houses, as a rule, evidence the fact that the nation is poor, and that the Japanese does not launch out beyond his means, or what he can reinstate when it is destroyed, as it most probably will be during his lifetime, by fire or earthquake. Two at least of the sides of the house have no permanent walls, and the same applies to almost every partition in-the interior. These are merely screens, called fusuma or karakami, fitting into grooves, which admit of easy and frequent removal. Those on the exterior when of wood are called amado, but when covered with white paper shoji:
these allow the light to penetrate; the shadows thrown upon them, when the light is inside, find many a place in the pages of the caricaturists. The interior screens are of thick paper, and are usually decorated with paintings. The rooms in the house are for the most part small and low; one can almost always easily touch the ceilings. The size of each is planned out most accurately according to the number of mats which it will take to cover the floor. These mats are always of the same size, namely, about 72 inches by 36 inches. 'IF The rooms are also rectangular and without recesses, save in the guest room, where there are two, called toko-noma and chigai-dana. In the toko-noma are hung the kakemono, or pictures, and on its floor, which is raised above the rest of the compartment, vases wi.th flowers, an incense burner, a figure of the household god, etc., are placed. In our illustration, No. 67, where a middle-class wedding ceremony is taking place, there are three kakemono behind the chigdidana, and their appropriateness will be recognised, for they illustrate the hairy-tailed tortoise, cranes, and J uro-jin, all emblems of longevity. Weddings are celebrated at night, hence the use of the lanterns (skokudai) and the delineation of the black sky outside; the bride is drinking sake from a cup. this being done several times by both parties; the other persons include the parents, and the go-betweens who have arranged the match; all are in full dress (kamiskimo); before the bride is a wooden pedestal for placing the sake-cups upon; in front of the two bridesmaids in the foreground are bowls with handles, containing the sake. and ornamented with pahs of paper butterflies, emblems of conjugal felicity. It may also be noted that on the cornice in which the shoji slide are depicted the takara-mono, or Precious Things (see p. 52); the table in the centre of the room has upon it a representation of the shore of Takasago, with the "pine of mutual old age,nand figures of Giotomba, an old man and woman, who are the spirits of the pine; the pile of boxes on the left are supposed each to contain a thousand rio, the
dowry, and are called senrio-bako; the shOji are withdrawn so as to open up a view of the street; the artist has adopted a common device for getting-over the difficulty of finishing off his ceiling and his foreground by the assistance of clouds. *
The chigai-dana is used as a receptacle for everything which we should put in a cupboard. As a rule it is fitted at the top with shelves, and below with a cupboard-the former for the reception of the kakpmono which are not in' use, makemono or rolls, lacquer boxes" etc., and the latter for stowing away the bedding.
