Hirairi

What hirairi means

Hirairi describes an entrance placed on the long side of a building, parallel to the ridge, so that visitors pass in under the run of the eaves and no triangular gable faces them.

The National Cultural Properties Database supplies examples. The Masujin sake shop in Niigata Prefecture, built in 1934, is described as a two-storey shopfront with its ridge running north to south, Kirizuma-zukuri, Sangawara-buki, entered from the eaves side.

Storehouses use it as well. The Ozaki Residence storehouse in Kochi Prefecture, built in 1927, is described as a two-storey building of Dozo-zukuri with pantiles, gabled, its roof frame standing free of the walls, and entered from the eaves side.

The Okamura Residence in Mie Prefecture is described as a Machiya facing the old Hase highway and entered from the eaves side. For townhouses this is the standard arrangement.

Choosing between the two

The paired term is Tsumairi, where the entrance sits on the gable end. Two buildings with the same roof can differ simply in which face carries the door.

Townhouses favour the eaves side because it frees the width of the frontage from the depth of the roof. Running the ridge parallel to the street allows the front to be as wide as the plot permits, and it produces the continuous line of eaves that gives a merchant street its unity.

To tell them apart, find the highest line of the roof. If the ridge runs parallel to the street and the entrance sits beneath the eaves below it, the building is entered from the eaves side; if the ridge points towards the street, the entrance is at the gable end.