yojouhan 四畳半
KEY WORD : architecture / tea houses
 
A four and a half 4 1/2 mat tea ceremony room *chashitsu 茶室, the most common size room. Mats are usually 190.95cm x 95.45cm, but the room may be larger with the addition of various structural elements. The calculation of the tea ceremony room size is called tatamiwari 畳割 and is mainly used in the Kansai 関西 area, but seems not to have influenced tea ceremony structures in the Kyoto area. Typically, the half mat is placed in the center of the tea ceremony room. When the sunken fire-box *ro 炉, is placed into this mat it is called *rodatami 炉畳. The other mats are placed, one after the other in a pattern called the chase-around type.
In a 4 1/2 mat tea ceremony room in the normal position hongatte 本勝手, the alcove is on the right at the back of the room. The mat for a high ranking guest *kinindatami 貴人畳, is at the front of the alcove. In the front wall near the guest mat *kyakudatami 客畳, is a small crawl-in or wiggle-in entrance. It has an entrance mat called a *fumikomidatami 踏込畳. This tea ceremony room should also have a utensil mat *dougudatami 道具畳, which will sometimes double as the host's mat *temaedatami 点前畳.
These mat positions are only used in the fall and winter when a sunken firebox is used. In the spring the firebox is covered and a portable stove *furo 風炉, is used to heat water. The kinindatami and dougudatami remain as they are, but the two guests mats are placed in front of the kinindatami. The half size mat is set in front of the host's entrance *sadouguchi 茶道口, and is called a step-in mat. The *gyakugatte 逆勝手 method exactly reverses these normal positions.
The yojouhan tea ceremony room is attributed to Murata Jukou 村田珠光 (1422-1502) and became a formal type tea ceremony room during the time of Takeno Jouou 武野紹鴎 (1504-55). It became the dominant tea ceremony room during the time of Sen Rikyuu千利休 (1522-91).
 
 
 
  *hongatte 本勝手
  *gyakugatte 逆勝手
 

a) *toko 床 b) *temaedatami 点前畳 c) *kinindatami 貴人畳
d) *ro 炉 e) *rodatami 炉畳 f) *kyakudatami 客畳
g) *sadouguchi 茶道口 h) *fumikomidatami 踏込畳 
i) *nijiriguchi 躙口

 
REFERENCES:
*yojouhangiri 四畳半切 
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