The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-12-06
HOMES or THE JAPANESE.
No Windows Nor Regular Doors-Naiis
and Floors -The t'(so Down."

No Windows Nor Regular Doors-Nais
and Floors -Ths 'Go Down."
Japanese hous es consist often OF
only one story, and very seldom OF
moro than two. They do not, OF
course, resemble one ano other exactly,
any more than English ho.1 uses do; but
it may be said of them gen, rally that
they have no windows in our sense OF
the word, and sometimes no .veguiar
doors. but they are always pre- Vldeo
with a veranda before the lower 81, Dry,
md, when they have second sto4 W
with balcony.
As to solidity, it is fact that the
Japanese do not even aim at making
their houses substantial, as English
structed by Jerry builder" they
En- glish houses are always intended to
be fixtures, and SO far durable that
| WIN N once put up they cannot be
| pull ed down without sending for
worl men; but among the japanese
| two { n more of the sides are not per-
name Mt walls, but are closed with slid
ing SO reens, which can be set up and
taken lown at the pleasure of the in
mates. On hot day, or when thorough
ventilat ion is required, the whole side
Of roo, n can be opened to the outer
| air.
| Of cclIse, people who are not par
ticular about having q permanent
| we'll between their rooms and the out
SIDE world, do not care to have I'M
movable partitions between one pari
L of the no, use and another. Although
in Englal I'd rooms are occasionally
parted from one another by curtain,
or by foIh ug doors, yet, as general
| rule, they are separated by walls
which, howe wer flimsy their construc
ton may be, are fixtures, and canno
be taken ava y and replaced at will
But in japan ,ne room is commonly
parted from IL u, next merely by
screen-a frame, MOI X of wood covered
with paper, whi Ii ru us IN swallow
groove ON the floor and deepe,l
groove on the cei ling, plan whici
gives the inhabit ants tn power 0
adding to or deere; sing the NUMBER .
their apartments a. their pleasure
Baron Nordenskjold, the fam 'us arc
tic traveller, has recorded the S arpris
with which he woke up one mo. cnlhI
at q Japanese inn in quite S. nal
room, having gone. to bed over nis U
In very large one.
| 1t has been suggested that the reason
why the japanese do not build their
houses more solidly is that, in land
like theirs of continual earthquakes, it
is not worth while spending long
time on rearing up building which
may be tumblel down again at any
moment. But it rs doubtful whether
this explanation is a true one, for
earthquakes 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 inflammable Japanese
houses fall an easy prey, and by which
large parts of the towns are continu-
ally being burnt down. On the APP
proach of confiagration the prudent
Japanese, as far as possible, pulls his
house down and takes away not only
It's contents, but large parts of itself,
to the go down" which rs a building
thickly coated with fire proof clay, very
strong and substantial, but very sell
| dom used as home
| The floors of Japanese,rooms are in
variably carpeted with rush mats of
very careful 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 a
room can be determined by the num-
Der of mats it contains and it is de-
scribed 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
mat room is only about twelve feet by
twelve in extent, it will be seen that
the rooms of japanese house, like
tho Japanese house itself, are generally
small. The japanese fireplace is gen
orally a portable brazier, made of
bronze, porcelain or wood, lined with
clay, in which not coal, but charcoal
ashes are burned. Sometimes, how
ever, there is a clay lined hole in the
floor, containing a fire of the same
kind. Family Magazine.