Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-01-03
HOMES OF THE JAPANESE.
No Windows Nor Regular Doors-waIls
and FIoos-The go Down"


and Foons-The go Down"
japanese houses consist often Of
only one story, and very seldom Of
more than two. They do not, Of
course. resemble one another exactly,
any more than English houses do; but
il may be said Of them generally that
they have no windows in our sense Of
/ the word, and sometimes no regular
doors, but they are always provided
with a vcranda before the lower story,
and, when they have a second story,
with a balcony.
As TO solidity, il is a fact hat the
Japanese do not even aim ri making
their houses substantial, as English
houses are, or rs, even when con
shructed by a Jerry builder they
profess 10 be, The outer walls of an
English houses are always intended TO
be fixtures, and so far durable that
when once put up they cannot be
pulled down without sending for
workmen; but among the japanese
two or more of the sides are not per
manent walls, but are closed with slid
ing screens, which can be set up and
taken down at the pleasure of the in
mates. On a hot day, or when thorough
ventilation is required, the whole side
Of a room can be opened to the outer
air.
OF course, people who are not par
ticular about having a permanent
wall between their rooms and the out
side world, do not care TO have i'm
movable partitions between one part
Of the house and another. Although
in England rooms are occasionally
parted from one another by a curtain,
or by folding doors, yet, as a general
rule, they are separated by walls,
which, however flimsy their construc-
ton may be, are fixtures, and cannot
be taken away and replaced at will.
But in Japan one % is commonly
parted from the next merely by a
screen-a framework of wood covered
with paper, which runs in a shallow
groove on the floor and a deeper
groove on the ceiling, a plan which
gives the inhabitants the power Of
adding TO or decreasing the number of
their apartments at their pleasure.
Baron Nordenskjold, the famous Arc
tic traveller, has recorded the surprise
with which he woke up one morning
at a Japanese inn in quite a small
room, having gone TO bed over night
in a very large one.
1t has been suggested that the a
why the japanese do not build their
houses more solidly is that, in a land
like theirs Of continual earthquakes, it
is not worth while spending o long
time on rearing up O building which
may be tumbled down again at any
moment. But i, is doubtful whether
this explanation is a true one, for
earthquakes violent enough TO destroy
a really strong building do not happen
very often at any n place, and, be-
sides, the japanese do erect durable
houses, which tho English call go
downs," for the .protection Of their
property from los or accident The
most common accident il by fire, TO
which the inflammable japanese
houses fall an easy prey, and by which
largo parts OF the towns are continu-
ally being burnt down. On the ap-
prosch Of Q confagrstion the prudent
Japanese, a far ~ possible, pulls his
house down and takes away mot only
its contents, but largo pArts OF itself,
to the go down." which 10 Q building
thickly coatsd with fire proof clay, very
strong and substantial, but vusy SOL
dom used Is q homo.
The floors Of japanese rooms M 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 q
room can be determined by the num-
Der OF mats it contains, and il is de-
scribed as a six mat or twelve mat
room, rs 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 a japanese house, like
the 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
nd.-Cassell's Family Magazine.