Tsushi-nikai

What a tsushi-nikai is

A tsushi-nikai is a low upper storey without room to stand upright, used for storage or for sleeping. It is one of the recurring features of the pre-modern Machiya.

The Sasaki birthplace in Mie Prefecture, built in 1868, is described as gabled and pantiled with tiled canopies front and back, twelve metres by ten, with an upper storey of this kind, a Toriniwa along the southern edge, and two rows of three rooms on the raised floor. The Okamura Residence in the same prefecture is described as a townhouse entered from the eaves side, timber-framed with the same low storey, thirteen metres by thirteen and comparatively large.

The exterior gives it away. The Umeda Residence in Mie Prefecture, built in 1866, is described as low in height, with a latticed projection at ground level and an upper wall covered in plaster pierced by a small barred window.

The Kimura Residence in Shiga Prefecture, from the early Meiji period, repeats the pattern: a townhouse of this type along the street, with a projecting lattice at ground level and a barred window above.

Compared with a full upper storey

Townhouses with full-height upper rooms appear in the modern period. The Masujin sake shop in Niigata Prefecture, built in 1934, is described as having three upstairs rooms and a tall build that is characteristic of early Showa townhouses. The comparison being drawn is with the older low storey.

On site, look at the height of the eaves and the size of the windows. A low eaves line with plastered walling above and only small barred openings indicates the older type. Where people were meant to live upstairs, the openings are larger.

The Japanese term is written in several ways, and the records of the Agency for Cultural Affairs use more than one of them. Following the spelling of whichever record is being quoted is the safest approach.