A ' is a space in
house
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
s in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
used for storing clothing, furniture, and other items that are not used on a daily basis. According to Japan's Building Standards Act , it refers to spaces that do not meet the criteria for
living room
In Western architecture, a living room, also called a lounge room (Australian English), lounge (British English), sitting room (British English), or drawing room, is a room for relaxing and socializing in a Dwelling, residential house or apa ...
s.
Origin
In the architectural style of the
Heian period
The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...
, there was a closed space called ', surrounded on all sides by earthen walls, with almost no openings other than the entrance doors. This is depicted in the 14th Century scroll painting '. While the was also used as a bedroom, it became known as "" due to its use in storing valuables, as "" means "
storeroom."
Afterward, the remained as sword rooms in imperial palaces, and as a formality in
samurai
The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
residences until the
Edo period
The , also known as the , is the period between 1600 or 1603 and 1868 in the history of Japan, when the country was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and some 300 regional ''daimyo'', or feudal lords. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengok ...
, but they were never used as bedrooms and were instead used as storerooms for valuables. The practice of creating a closed-off section in a dwelling to store things gradually spread to commoners, leading to the term "" being used to refer to such spaces.
[『日本人とすまい3 しきり』リビング・デザイン・センター、7 November 1997]
Naming and usage
According to regulations certified by the
Fair Trade Commission and applied by Japan's Real Estate Fair Trade Council Federation, spaces that do not meet the criteria for living rooms under building standards, due to insufficient openings (such as windows) resulting in inadequate lighting and ventilation, or low ceiling height, are designated as "."
In
real estate, the initial "S" from "service room" or "spare room" is used to denote in floor plans. For example, floor plans including rooms that do not fulfill the requirements for "3LDK" (three bedrooms, living room, dining room, and kitchen) might be labelled as "2SLDK" (two bedrooms, "spare room" or , living room, dining room, and kitchen). This is done with the aim of appealing to potential buyers, indicating that while these spaces cannot be classified as living rooms due to regulations, they may still be utilized as living spaces if overlooking deficiencies such as insufficient lighting. This serves to differentiate them from spaces like , which are clearly designated for storage only. Alternatively, they may be labelled as "utility space," "utility room," or "multipurpose room."
In households with few rooms, spaces measuring around 3 to 4.5 mats are often used as children's rooms or studies.
Additionally, the traditional use of these spaces as bedrooms has continued even after they became known as "storerooms." In some rural areas of Japan, these spaces might still be referred to as bedrooms.
References
{{Japanese architectural elements
Japanese home