Fig. 121.—Guest-room showing circular window.
In a spacious hall in Tokio is a tokonoma six feet in depth, and very wide. The flower-vases and pictures in this recess were colossal. In an adjoining room to the one last figured the tokonoma came in one corner of the room, and the chigai-dana was at right angles with it. To the right of the tokonoma was a permanent partition, in the centre of which was a circular window closed by shōji which parted right and left. The shōji may have run within the partition, or rested in a grooved frame on the other side of the wall. Above this circular window and near the ceiling was a long rectangular window, also having shōji, which could be open for ventilation. To the left of the chigai-dana was a row of deep cupboards enclosed by a set of [pg 141] sliding screens; above was a broad shelf, upon the upper surface of which ran shōji, which when opened revealed another room beyond. The frieze of this recess had a perforated design of waves ([fig. 120]).
Severe and simple as a Japanese room appears to be, it may be seen by this figure how many features for decorative display come in. The ornamental openings or windows with their varied lattices, the sliding screens and the cupboards with their rich sketches of landscapes and trees, the natural woods, indeed many of these features might plainly be adopted without modification for our rooms.
Fig. 122.—Guest-room showing writing-place.
