JAPANESE HOUSE-BUILDING. 



645 



other object. The companion bay has shelves and a low closet. Other 

 rooms also may have recesses to accommodate a case of drawers or 

 shelves. Where closets and cupboards occur, they are finished with 

 sliding screens instead of swinging-doors. In tea-houses of two stories 

 the stairs, which often ascend from the vicinity of the kitchen, have 

 beneath them a closet, and this is usually closed by a swinging-door. 



In city houses the kitchen is at one side or corner of the house, 

 generally in an L, covered with a pent-roof. This apartment is often 

 toward the street, its yard separated from other areas by a high fence. 

 In the country the kitchen is nearly always under the main roof. In 

 the city few out-buildings, such as sheds and barns, are seen. Accom- 



FlG. 1.— SlDE-FBAMINa. 



panying the houses of the better class are solid, thick-walled, one or 

 two storied, fii'e-proof buildings called kura, in which the goods and 

 chattels are stored away at the time of a conflagration. These build- 

 ings, which are known to the foreigners as " godowns," have one or 

 two small windows and one door, closed by thick and ponderous shut- 

 ters. Such a building usually stands isolated from the dwelling, 

 though often in juxtaposition ; and sometimes, though rarely, it is 

 used as a domicile. 



In the gardens of the better classes summer-houses and shelters of 

 rustic appearance and diminutive proportions are often seen. Rustic 

 arbors are also to be seen in the larger gardens. Specially constructed 

 houses of quaint design and small size are not uncommon ; in these 



