Tadori

A tadori [たどり] is a traditional Kantonese countryside dwelling, commonly found in the north of the country in the Honzura region. Often a log house, it forms the living quarters of a conventional Kantonese farmstead. They generally feature a small cellar or basement and a small attic area. There is usually an adjacent or surrounding yard which also encloses a kitchen garden, outhouse and barn with a simple woven fence. Traditional, old-style tadori construction involved the use of simple tools such as ropes, axes, knives and spades. Both the exterior and interior are of split pine trunks, the gap between being filled with clay.
Nails were not used as metal was relatively expensive; instead, all of the building's components were simply cut and fitted together using a hand axe. Items such as coins, incense, pieces of charcoal, salt crystals, herbs, embroidery, etc. were often placed customarily beneath the four corners of the house under the superstition that this would give the residents health and financial fortune.
Tadori emerged in the fifteenth century as a common form of abode for the upper peasant class. In contrast to earlier housing, the stove was often the central element of the interior, being a constant source of heat and light. Often there were no beds (in the Western sense) for members of the household, who would instead sleep on cushioned mats (fushi) or reed-woven mats called nakashi.