1 A hanging cloth suspended from the eaves
or in the openings (especially entrances) of a building as protection from either
sunlight or wind. From the late Kamakura period noren began to be particularly
associated with urban vernacular houses *machiya
町家. In this context, in addition to providing shade and privacy, they became a
kind of shop sign (see *kanban
看板), while an open *oodoguchi
大戸口 with a noren hanging in it indicated that a shop was open. The earliest examples
appear to have been hanging mats of woven straw mushiro 筵, but flax asa 麻 and particularly cotton, momen 木綿, later became common.
The noren as a shop sign came to be decorated with a design usually representing
the shop name yagou 屋号, trademark or owner's crest mondokoro
紋所. The design might be colored with a white ground or white against a colored
background, the commonest colors being black and dark blue. Tea-dyed cotton was
particularly favoured by tobacco shops. The strips of material that made up the
noren were usually sewn together at the top, but left unjointed further down, creating
a characteristic split in the middle, convenient for those passing through a noren-hung
opening. Occasionally, when keeping out sunlight was a particular concern, a noren might be sewn right down to the bottom. There were various kinds of noren: half
length hannoren 半暖簾, long naganoren 長暖簾, with slit beginning no
more than 24cm from the top kirinoren 切暖簾, and made from knotted cords
suspended from a rod of bamboo nawanoren 縄暖簾.
2 A panel
of hemp cloth asanuno 麻布 fixed to strips of bamboo used in the construction
of plastered walls. The noren is set against the surface of the the coarse
base coat of plaster *arakabe
荒壁, and held in place with *shikkui
漆喰. Then the middle coat of plaster *nakanuri
中塗, is applied.
3 Wisteria vines which were used to control the
movement of logs felled on mountains. The vines helped slide the logs down the
mountain track and to stop them.
4 A type of large net made of
a lattice of thick branches bound together with wisteria vine. The net was used
to stop lengths of felled lumber when they were slid side by side lengthwise down
the hillside where they were felled.
5 A frieze of boarding suspended
from the eaves of shingle-roofed *itabuki
板葺, urban houses in Aichi prefecture. |
