What a tokowaki is
A tokowaki is the shelved recess beside the Tokonoma. Fitted with staggered shelves and a low cupboard, it forms the third element of the formal fittings together with the alcove and the Tsukeshoin.
The three work as a set. The detached room at the Takinami Residence in Fukui Prefecture, from the early Showa period, is described as two Japanese rooms side by side with a veranda under a Geya all round, its eight-mat principal room fitted with an alcove and this recess, and log timbers used at the veranda eaves in the manner of Sukiya-zukuri.
Staggered shelves, two boards set at different heights, are its characteristic fitting. The study at the Sugiura Residence in Aichi Prefecture, from the middle Meiji period, is described as having such shelves in the recess of its western upper room, a polished cedar log as its Tokobashira, Nageshi carried round the walls and boarded Ranma between the rooms.
Japanese records use one word for the alcove and its recess together, treating them as a single group of joinery occupying one corner of the room.
Windows in the recess
A window is sometimes cut into its wall. The annexe at Yurinso in Tottori Prefecture, from about 1923, is described as having a principal room built of fine hemlock with a Katōmado cut into this recess, an anteroom and a two-mat tea room to the south, and a veranda all round.
The entrance and tea room at Shinryuji in Gifu Prefecture, from the late Taisho period, are described as a four-and-a-half-mat Chashitsu with its alcove on the west, a round window in the recess beside it, and a Mizuya to the east, with a slatted window at the base of the wall to the corridor so that arrivals can be seen.
The alcove keeps its wall for hanging a scroll; the recess, being a place for shelves, can spare part of its wall for a window. Light falling through it lands on the shelves and on whatever is displayed.
On site, look beside the alcove. Two shelf boards set at different heights with sliding doors below identify the recess, and the Tokobashira stands on the boundary between the two.
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Registered tangible cultural properties (structures)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/toroku_yukei.html
- National Cultural Properties Database: Takinami Residence detached room, an alcove with its shelved recess and log members at the veranda eaves
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009452
- National Cultural Properties Database: Sugiura Residence study, staggered shelves beside the alcove and a polished cedar log as its post
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014393
- National Cultural Properties Database: Yurinso annexe, a cusped window cut into the shelved recess beside its alcove
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009525
- National Cultural Properties Database: Shinryuji entrance and tea room, a round window in the recess beside the alcove
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014385
Last verified: 2026.09.11