The houses ... are very slightly built, mostly of wood, many of the poorer ones being composed only of a light bamboo framework, covered with thick mud, which when dry receives a coat of plaster—thus assuming, when completed, a solidity of appearance that anyone who had seen the building in its early stage of erection would scarcely have expected. The roof is generally made of a kind of tile, often arranged in alternate stripes of brown and white, or black and white, the eaves drooping over the house sides to protect them from sun or rain. As I do not remember to have seen, except in the European dwellings, a single chimney, I cannot imagine how the smoke escapes when it is damp or cold, and the inhabitants are obliged to close their doors and windows.
The doors and windows, and almost every thing here, seemed invariably to go on slides. At night the closing of all the wooden screens outside the verandah (considered an important business for the protection of the house) is an operation that lasts fully five minutes.
A Lady’s Visit to Manilla and Japan (1863)
Now a word or two as to their dwellings. It is extraordinary how little these vary, from the prince’s palace (we do not refer to their stone castles) to the peasant’s cottage. They are all equally and scrupulously clean; and even about those of the highest in the land, there are little or no signs of ornament—a handsome screen or two, and perhaps some carved panels, being the only attempts at decoration ever observable. It has always puzzled us to imagine where all the beautiful bronzework, porcelain, &c., exposed for sale in every town, can go to; for they do not appear in any of the houses we have visited.
The edifices themselves are the most flimsy affairs possible; and it might seem that we intended to put your credulity to the test when we tell you two curious facts about them—viz., that they are made in a great measure of paper, and that the Japanese, in erecting a house, build the roof first.
The skeleton of the roof is always put together on the ground, as the first step towards the completion of the future house; each beam is fitted and dovetailed into the others; and when the whole framework is finished, it is raised bodily and placed on its supports. Two of the sides are then boarded in, and the other two are closed by means of sliding screens of paper; those answering for windows being made of paper thin and transparent enough to admit the light. The floors are raised about a foot above the ground, and covered with fine matting, which is always clean in the extreme—so particular are they on this point, that you have to take off your shoes before stepping on to it; and on this account, however low an ebb we unwittingly allowed our kit to reach, as the years of exile passed, very shame prevented us from bringing ridicule on ourselves and our country by inattention to the state of our socks.
As may be imagined, such buildings scarcely answer the purpose of keeping out the cold; and in winter you may see whole families, swaddled up in quilts, crowding closely round the big “shibatchi,”* placed in the middle of the room.
*A wooden box containing an earthenware charcoal-burner.
Our Life in Japan (1869)
Japanese houses are constructed of timbers from tolerably heavy wood, put together without nails and set right upon the ground. Instead of doors, windows or partitions, slides are used, the outer ones made of plain paper pasted only on one side of the framework, while the inner ones, which serve to make separate rooms, are made of beautifully-figured paper pasted on both sides of the framework. The whole house may be thrown into a single room by the removal, at pleasure, of these slides.
For protection against thieves and the inclemencies of the weather there are heavy wooden slides, which shut up the house effectually, making it close, dark and warm. The roofs of the houses are tiled or thatched, with projecting eaves. The rain runs easily from these roofs, which project so far as often to exclude the light. Around the houses are little verandas, the wood of which is very highly polished, and it is the pride of a good housekeeper to keep it bright and clean. The floors are covered with white mats, which the people call ta-ta-mi, to distinguish them from the ordinary matting (go-za). These houses are generally one story and a half high, or from twelve to fifteen feet. Back of the houses are pretty little gardens, with artificial lakes and rivers crossed by tiny bridges. The Japanese are real landscape-gardeners, and contrive, by making artificial hills on their grounds, to put a great deal in a small space.
The Sunrise Kingdom (1879)
The want of chairs is at first distressing to a European frame; but practice soon shows that we can be as comfortable on the floor as above it, and if one began the practice young, no doubt one could spend many easy hours à la Japonaise, kneeling on a mat and sitting back upon one’s heels with one’s toes stretched out behind!
Round the World in 1870 (1872)
Japanese houses have two sets of screens, which form their walls and windows, the outer one of wood only, the inner of light wood frames with thin white paper pasted over them. All day long the outer ones are entirely and the inner partially pushed aside, and the life of the house is therefore visible from the street or garden.
Japan As We Saw It (Bickersteth) (1893)
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