One room, different uses

Staying at a ryokan: rooms, meals and baths

Futon: bedding that can leave the floor clear

A Japanese futon can be the mattress underneath the sleeper or the quilt above. Used with a pillow and covers, foldable bedding can be put away so a room serves other purposes during the day.

Chabudai: a dining table that could be put away

Shoes at the genkan: crossing into the house

A genkan is an entrance transition in a Japanese home. Commonly, outdoor shoes are removed on the lower floor before stepping onto the raised interior. The step, indoor footwear and detailed rules vary between homes and other places.

Machiya: a house connected to the street’s trade

Machiya are traditional urban houses, many combining a shop or workplace with domestic rooms. Kyoto’s long timber houses are one regional tradition within a wider range of Japanese town houses.

Shoin-zukuri: writing ledges and rooms for receiving guests

Seiza: a posture, a name and a setting

Seiza today usually means kneeling with the lower legs behind the body and the hips resting near the heels. It appears in etiquette and some traditional arts, alongside other ways of sitting.

Kotatsu: a warm space beneath a table

A kotatsu holds heat beneath a quilt-covered frame. In a common modern form, an electric heater sits under a low table, with a removable tabletop resting above the quilt.

Tansu: storage shaped by its contents

Tansu are storage cabinets or chests with drawers and doors. Traditional examples are generally wooden, but their forms vary with what they hold: clothing, accounts, medicines or valuables carried aboard a vessel.