'Katoguchi' Tea Room Entrance - Machiya House Features
Have you ever noticed the different entrance designs of tea rooms?
Tea room entrances with low, square openings (known as nijiri-guchi) are for guests, and require them to lower themselves to crawl into the room. This was especially important during the Warring States period, when the samurai master-servant relationship was strong. But with the low openings in the tea room, samurai warriors had to remove their swords to enter, which placed everyone as equals and ignored class rankings!
On the other hand, entrances with a sloping, arched design (known as katoguchi) was mainly used as an entrance for servers and hosts.
Our tea room in ‘Natsume-an’ Machiya House is reminiscent of a tea room, but can function as a bedroom (a futon bed can be set here)!
Stay in a traditional Japanese townhouse (machiya) during your next visit to Kyoto, Japan.
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