Japanese traditional house has an unusual name. It sounds like a mink. Translated, this word means "house of people." Today, in the Land of the Rising Sun, such a structure can only be found in the countryside.
Types of Japanese houses
In ancient times, the word "Mink" called the peasant homes of the Land of the Rising Sun. The same houses belonged to merchants and artisans, that is, that part of the population that was not samurai. However, today the class division of society does not exist, and the word "minka" is applied to any traditional Japanese houses that are of an appropriate age. Such dwellings, located in areas with different climatic and geographical conditions, have a fairly wide range of sizes and styles.
But be that as it may, all minks are divided into two types. The first of them includes village houses. They are also called Noka. The second type of mink is urban houses (matiya). There is also a subclass of noka - a Japanese fishing lodge. What is the name of such a dwelling? These are gyok village houses.
Mink device
Traditional Japanese houses are very distinctive buildings. In general, they are a canopy, standing above an empty space. The mink roof rests on a frame made of wooden supports and rafters.
Japanese houses, in our understanding, have neither windows nor doors. Each room has three walls, which are lightweight sashes that can be pulled out of the grooves. They can always be moved or removed. These walls play the role of windows. The owners paste them over with white, tissue-like rice paper and call them shoji.
A characteristic feature of Japanese houses are their roofs. They look like the hands of a praying person and converge at an angle of sixty degrees. That external association, which is caused by the roofs of Mink, is reflected in their name. It sounds like "gassho-zukuri", which means "folded arms."
The traditional Japanese houses that have survived to the present are historical monuments. Some of them are protected by the national government or local municipalities. Some of the buildings are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Materials of the main structures
The peasants could not afford the construction of expensive housing. They used the materials that were the most affordable and cheap. Mink was built from bamboo and wood, clay and straw. Various types of herbs have also been used.
Wood, as a rule, was used to make the “skeleton” of the house and roof. For the external walls, bamboo and clay were taken. The internal ones were replaced by sliding partitions or screens. When installing the roof, straw and grass were used. Sometimes tiles made of baked clay were laid on top of these natural materials.
The stone served to strengthen or create the foundation. However, this material was not used in the construction of the house itself.
Minka is a Japanese house whose architecture is traditional for the Land of the Rising Sun. The supports in it form the “skeleton” of the structure and are intricately, without using nails, connected to the transverse beams. Holes in the walls of the house are shoji, or heavy wooden doors.
Roof device
Gassho-zukuri have the highest and most recognizable Japanese houses. And this feature is given to them by their amazing roofs. Their height allowed residents to do without a chimney. In addition, the design of the roof provided for the arrangement in the attic of extensive storage facilities.
The high roof of the Japanese house reliably protected the mink from rain. Rain and snow, not settling, immediately rolled down. This design feature did not allow moisture to enter the room and rot the straw from which the roof was built.
Mink roofs are classified by various types. In matia, for example, they are usually peaked, gable, covered with tiles or shingles. The roofs of most of the village houses of Knock differed from them. They, as a rule, were covered with straw and had a ramp on four sides. On the ridge of the roof, as well as in those places where various sections docked, special caps were installed.
Home Furnishings
Minka, as a rule, consisted of two sections. One of them had an earthen floor. This territory was called home. In the second section, the floor was raised above the level of the dwelling by half a meter.
In the first room cooked food. It housed a clay oven, barrels for food, a wooden wash basin and jugs for water.
In the room with raised floor had a built-in hearth. The smoke from the fire bred in it went under the roof and did not interfere at all with the inhabitants of the house.
What impression does a Japanese house make on European tourists? The reviews of those who first got inside the mink speak about the surprise that caused them a complete lack of furniture. Visitors can see only the exposed wooden details of the construction of the dwelling. These are support pillars and rafters, planed ceiling boards and latticed shoji, gently scattering sunlight through rice paper. The floor covered with straw mats is completely empty. There are no decorations on the walls. The exception is only a niche in which a picture or a scroll with a poem is placed, under which there is a vase with a bouquet of flowers.
It seems to a European person who gets into a Japanese house that this is not a dwelling, but only a decoration for some kind of theatrical production. Here you have to forget about existing stereotypes and understand that a dwelling is not a fortress, but something that allows you to feel harmony with nature and your inner world.
Century-old tradition
For residents of the East, tea drinking plays an important role in social and spiritual life. In Japan, this tradition is a strictly painted ritual. It is attended by the person who brews and then pours tea (master), as well as guests drinking this amazing drink. This ritual originated in the Middle Ages. However, today it is part of Japanese culture.
Tea house
For the tea ceremony, the Japanese used separate facilities. Honored guests were received in the tea house. The main principle of this building was simplicity and naturalness. This made it possible to hold a ceremony for drinking a fragrant drink, moving away from all the earthly temptations.
What design features do Japanese tea houses have? They consist of a single room, which can only be reached through a low and narrow passage. To enter the house, visitors have to bow greatly. This has a definite meaning. After all, bow low before the ceremony had to all people, even those who had a high social position. In addition, the low entrance did not allow in earlier times to go into the tea house with weapons. Samurai had to leave him at the door. It also made the person concentrate on the ceremony as much as possible.
The architecture of the tea house provided for the presence of a large number of windows (from six to eight), which had various shapes and sizes. The high location of the openings indicated their main purpose - to let in sunlight. Guests could admire the surrounding nature only if the owners parted the frames. However, as a rule, during the tea ritual, the windows were closed.
The interior of the tea house
The room for the traditional ceremony had nothing superfluous. Its walls were trimmed with gray clay, which, reflecting sunlight, created the feeling of being in shadow and tranquility. The floor was certainly covered with tatami. The most important part of the house was a niche (tokonoma) made in the wall. An incense burner and flowers were placed in it. There was also a scroll with sayings, which were selected by the master for each specific case. All sorts of other decorations in the tea house were missing. In the very center of the room a bronze hearth was arranged, on which a fragrant drink was prepared.
