Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 1.djvu/231

THE HEIAN EPOCH having a four-faced roof without gables, whereas they had roofs of only two faces with gables at the ends—was usually of the same dimensions, 42 feet square. Its centre was occupied by a "parent chamber," 30 feet square, around which ran an ambulatory (hisashi) and a veranda (yengawa), each 6 feet wide. The "mother chamber" and the ambulatory were ceiled, sometimes with interlacing strips of bark or broad laths, so as to produce a plaited effect; sometimes with plain boards. The veranda had no ceiling. Sliding doors, a characteristic feature of modern Japanese houses, had not yet come into use, and no means were provided for closing the veranda, so that, at night, the space included in the "mother chamber" and the ambulatory was alone habitable. The ambulatory, however, was surrounded by a wall of latticed timber or plain boards, the lower half of which could be removed altogether, whereas the upper half, being suspended from hinges, could be swung upward and outward. It was thus possible to regulate the amount of light and air admitted. Privacy was obtainable by hanging blinds of split bamboo in the place of the latticed wall, and communication from the ambulatory to the veranda was by doors, three on each side of the room, opening outward. As for the "mother chamber," it was separated from the ambulatory by similar bamboo blinds, with silk cords for raising or lowering them, or by curtains. Round the outer edge of 203