Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 28.djvu/665

Rh or rough-hewed stones, these in turn resting upon others, which have been solidly pounded into the earth by means of a huge wooden maul worked by a number of men (Fig. 2). In this way the house is perched upon these stones, with the floor elevated at least a foot and a half or two feet above the ground. In some cases the space between the up-rights is boarded up; this is generally seen in Kioto houses. In others the wind has free play beneath; and, while this exposed condition renders the house much colder and more uncomfortable in winter, the inmates are never troubled by the noisome air of the cellar, which too often infects our houses at home. Closed wooden fences of a more solid character are elevated in this way; that is, the lower rail or sill of the fence rests directly upon stones placed at intervals apart of six or eight feet. The ravages of numerous ground-insects, as well as larvæ, and the excessive dampness of the ground at certain seasons of the year, render this method of building a necessity.

The accurate way in which the base of the uprights is wrought to fit the inequalities of the stones upon which they rest is worthy of notice. In the emperor's garden we saw a two-storied house finished in the most simple and exquisite manner. It was, indeed, like a beautiful cabinet, though disfigured by a bright-colored foreign carpet upon its lower floor. The uprights of this structure rested on large, oval, beach-worn stones buried end-wise in the ground; and, upon the smooth rounded portions of the stones, which projected above the level of the ground to a height of ten inches or more, the uprights had been most accurately fitted (Fig. 3). The effect was extremely light and buoyant, though apparently insecure to the last degree; yet this building had not only withstood a number of earthquake-shocks, but also the strain of severe typhoons, which during the summer months sweep over Japan with such violence. If the building be very small, then the frame consists of four corner-posts running to the roof. In dwellings having a frontage of two or more rooms, other uprights occur between the corner-posts. As the rooms increase in number through the house, uprights come in the corners of the rooms, against which the sliding-screens, or fusuma, abut. The passage of these uprights through the room to the roof above gives a solid constructive appearance to the house. When a house has a veranda—and nearly every