1
Lit. great door. Also
called *oodoguchi 大戸口. The door separating a main entrance, usually
one bay wide, from the earth-floored area *doma 土間. Found in traditional vernacular houses *minka 民家, the kitchens *daidokoro 台所, of upper class residences, and the kitchen and office buildings *kuri 庫裡 of Zen temples. Oodo also referred to the doors at the entrance
to the long dividing passage *kusa-no-ma 草の間, in stables *umaya 馬屋. The term was already in use by the 14c and was in general a solidly constructed
timber door itado 板戸, or pair of doors which could be securely locked
and barred at night. By the end of the Edo period these had been replaced
or supplemented by lattice doors koushido 格子戸, or even sliding screens
*shouji 障子. Elaborate
examples from this period might have a double track arrangement, with a
lattice door for daytime use and a solid door for use at night. In many
cases the oodo incorporated a wicket *kugurido 潜り戸, allowing individuals to pass through when the main door was shut. There
were four main types of oodo: (a) a timber swing door or pair of
doors called itatobira 板扉 (see *itakarado 板唐戸); (b) a single upward swinging door tsuriagedo 吊揚げ戸, similar in
principle to a hinged shutter *shitomido 蔀戸; (c) a one-way sliding door or pair of doors with flanking panel which
concealed the door when open, sodekabetsuki katabikido 袖壁付き片引き戸;
(d) a pair of two-way sliding doors *hikichigai 引違. Illustrated hand scrolls, such as Ban Dainagon ekotoba 伴大納言絵詞
(Idemitsu 出光 Art Museum, Tokyo), depicting the capital in the last years
of the Heian period, show that a pair of timber swing-doors of type (a)
was already commonly used as an oodo in the houses of lesser officials
by the 12c. It continued to be used in large scale ancillary temple buildings
and kitchens until well into the Edo period. Urban houses of retailers and
artisans *machiya 町家 by the 19c, used a single swing-door a full bay in width with a central
hinge, allowing one half to be folded back upon the other in the manner
of double hinged doors *kannonbiraki
tobira 観音開扉, thus creating less obstruction when open. Type (b),
the single swinging door, swung inwards and was supported when open by iron
hangers suspended from beams or upper-floor joists. It had the advantage
of not obstructing the space below when open. It was favored in town houses,
which required an open front to display merchandise. To mitigate the unwieldiness
of the single swinging door, it was sometimes divided into upper and lower
panels, allowing it to be folded and then raised, but this design, which
appeared in the 18c, made it difficult to incorporate a wicket door, and
was not widely adopted. Type (c), the one way sliding door *katabikido 片引戸, may be subdivided into two categories: a single wide sliding door
and flanking panel, or a pair of symmetrical doors with a narrow panel on
each side. The former type was almost ubiquitous in farmhouses, nouka 農家, during the Edo period and was sometimes used in rural merchants' houses.
The heavy door was usually equipped with wheels, let into the bottom rail.
The variant with symmetrical flanking panels and a pair of doors was sometimes
used in temple buildings and vernacular houses during the latter part of
the Edo period. Type (d), the two-way sliding doors, was comparatively rare
in vernacular houses of the early Edo period. By the end of the Edo period,
however, it was not uncommon for two-way sliding doors to be inserted in
the main entrance of farmhouses during the daytime, when the oodo itself stood open, necessitating extra framing for the runners. The earliest
two-way sliding doors used as a type of oodo arrangement are found
in the entrance to the long passage, kusa-no-ma, of the stables illustrated
in the early 17c carpenter's manual *SHOUMEI 匠明. The opening in this
case is about 3m (10 shaku 尺) wide, thus each of the sliding doors
is considerably larger than average.
2 In farmhouses in parts of Toyama and Fukui prefectures, the area
of earth floor just inside the main entrance of the house.
3 In vernacular buildings in the western part of Shizuoka prefecture,
the open space immediately in front of the main entrance to the house. It
is believed to be an abbreviation of oodosaki 大戸先 (the space
before the great door). |
