Fig. 149.—Carved wood ramma in town of Yatsushiro, Higo.
Fig. 150.—Ramma, composed of two thin boards, in Nagoya, Owari.
As the room, when closed, receives its light through the shōji, the windows proper—that is, certain openings in permanent partitions which may be regarded as windows—have in most cases lost their functional character, and have become modified into ornamental features merely, many of them being strictly decorative, having none of the functions of a window whatever. These openings assume an infinite variety of forms, and appear in the most surprising places in the room. They may be placed low down near the floor, or close to the ceiling; indeed, they occur between the rooms when permanent partitions are present, and similar openings may be seen in the partition which separates the tokonoma from the chigai-dana. A window often occurs in a partition that continues some little distance beyond the outer edge of the tokonoma. This window is usually square, and is closed by a shōji. The upper cross-piece of the shōji frame projects at each end, so that it may be hung in place on iron hooks ([fig. 151]). If the window comes near the tokonoma the [pg 175] shōji is hung on the outside of the room, as its appearance in this way is better from within. If it occurs in a partition near the chōdzu-bachi, the shōji is hung inside the room. Sometimes the shōji rests on grooved cleats or bars, which are fastened above and below the window, and oftentimes it runs inside the partition,—that is, in a partition that is double. The shōji in this case is often made in two portions, and parts to the right or left. The frame-work of the shōji forming the windows is often a marvel of exquisite taste. The designs are often geometric figures, as in [fig. 152]; though other designs are seen, as in [fig. 153], representing a mountain. These designs, being made of very thin strips of white pine, it would seem that in such examples portions of the frame-work must have been fastened to the paper to keep them in place, for there are no means of sustaining such a frame in position without some such method.
At Nagoya, in an old house, I saw a remarkable partition of dark cedar, in which a circular window, five feet in diameter, was occupied by a panel of thin cedar, in which was a perforated design of waves; the drawing was of the most graceful description. The curious, formal, curled tongues of water, like young sprouting ferns, the long graceful sweep of the waves, and the circular drops suspended above the breaking crests presented a charming effect, as the light coming through from the outside illuminated these various openings.
Fig. 151.—Shōji for window.