Traditional Japanese Architecture by Mira Locher

Traditional Japanese Architecture by Mira Locher

Author:Mira Locher
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4629-0606-2
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing


Chapter 11

Floors

In the earliest Japanese dwellings (flat-land and pithouses), floors were earthen, merely tamped to make a firm surface. Although simple to construct, the floors were damp all year round and cold in the winter and—since life took place on the ground and not above the ground on chairs—provided no protection from vermin or insects.

As these early dwellings developed into what we now know as minka, the earthen floor remained in a part of the house, and a raised floor was added to separate spaces having different functions. The composition and construction of the earthen floor changed to produce a more durable surface. Bittern and water were mixed with the top layers of soil, and the soil was tamped to create a smooth floor. The bittern helps the earth mixture cure and dry with a hard surface, which becomes mostly impermeable to water and easy to clean.

The area with the tamped earthen floor (tataki) is known as the doma (“earth space”) and accommodates functions that in the past took place outdoors—cooking, milling rice, and housing animals (in stalls). The daily entry leads into the doma, and in many ways it is treated as an extension of the outside. Shoes (typically wooden sandals called geta) always are worn in the doma but never in the raised floor areas of the house, however, as these areas are considered to be entirely inside rather than extensions of outside.

Lifting the floor above the ground was a major advance in the development of comfort in Japanese dwellings. The raised-floor living spaces could be kept cleaner, and the air under the floor helps to ventilate the house in the summer and keeps the inhabitants away from the cold damp ground in the winter.



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