Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1888-11-23
Homes OF tl,e Japancse.

Japanese houses consist o'taH g on't o.a
story, and very seldom OF &c 10 han iwo
They do not, of courfe, resemble are ano'h-
sr exactly, any more than Englsh aous s
do; but it may be aaid of lhom generally
that they have no windows in our sense Of
the word and sometimes no reguIrc doors
but they are always provided with veraa
da before tho lower story, aud, when they
have second story. with balcony.
rs to solidity, it is q iact that the ispa-
nese do not even aim al making their houses
substantial, as English houses are. Q. as,
even when constructed by Jerry builder, !"
they profess to be. The outer walls OF an
English house are always intended 10 be
fxtures, and 80 far durable that when once
put up they canuot bo pnlled down without
sending fer workmen; but among tho Japa-
nese two or more CT the sides are a0t pei
manect walls, but ale closed Bith aiding
screens which can be set UP and taken
down at the pleasure OF the inmates. On Il
hot day, or when thorough ventilation is re-
quired, the whole SIDE of q room can bo
opened to the outer air.
OF course, people who are not particular
about having q permanent we'll between
their rooms and the outside world, DO not
care 10 have immoVable partitions between
one part OF the house and another. al
though in England rooms are occasionally
parted from one another by curtain, or hy
folding doors, yet, as y general rule, theg
are separate by wal.s, which, however
flimsy their construction may be, are fix
lures, and cannot be- taken away and re
placed at will. But in Japan ono room ia
commonly parted from the next merely By
a screen "a frama work Of wood covered
| with paner, wnch runs in q shallow groove
on the floor and deeper grooVe on the cell
ing, D plan which gives the inha btants the
powe: of adding to or decreasing the mum
bsr Of their apartments at their pleasure.
Bsron Nordenskjold the famous Arctic
traveller, has recorded the surprise wish
which he woke mp one morning at JepHa
esq inn in quite small room, having gene
to bed over night in t very large one.
II las been suggested thai the reason why
the japanese 90 not build their houses more
solidiy is that, iu u land like theirs of con-
tinunl earthquakes, it is not worth while
spending q long time 10 rearing up u build
ing which may be tunbled down again at
any moment. But it is doubtful whether
this explanation is q true one, for esrths
uuakes violent enough TO destroy q
really strong building do not happen
very often at any one place, and, be-
sides, the Japanese DO erect durable
houses, which the English call go
downs" for the protection of their property
from loss or accident. The most common
accident is by fire, to which the inhammsble
Japanese houses fall an easy prey and by
which large parts of the towns are contnu-
ally being burnt down. On the approach
of q confsgration the prudent Japanese, es
far as possible, pulls his house down and
takes away not only its contents, but large
parts of itself, to the "go down." which is a
building thickly coated with fire proof clay
very strong and sub8tantial, but very sell
dom used as home.
The floors Of Japanese rooms are invari'
ably carpeted with rush mats of very care
full construction, some two or three inches
thick and about six feet long by three broad
As these mats are all of one pattern the size
of q room can be determined by the number
of yuets il contains, and it is described as
six mat or twelve mat room, as the case
may be. Since the commonest rooms are
either of six or of eight mats, and since an
eight mat room is only about twelve feet by
twelve in extent, it will be seen that the
rooms of Japanese house, like the Japa-
nese house ITSELF are generally small. The
Japanese fireplace is generally q portable
brazier, made OF bronze, porcelain or wood,
lined with clay, in which not coal, but char
coal ashes are burned. Sometimes, how
ever, there is clay lined hole in the floor,
containing fire ofthe same kind s
Family Magazine.