What yomadori means
Yomadori is a house plan that divides the raised floor into four rooms, two at the front and two at the back, side by side. Because the arrangement resembles the character 田, it is also called the ta-no-ji plan. It is usually combined with an earth-floored area on one side, with everyday rooms nearest the earth floor and a formal Zashiki at the far front.
It is a basic plan of early modern farmhouses and townhouses, with many regional variants. When the partitions between all four rooms line up, it is called a regular yomadori; when the front and back partitions are offset, it is a staggered yomadori. Larger houses add rooms, as in the nine-room plan of three rows by three.
With the sliding partitions removed, the rooms open into one large space. The openings between rooms are often spanned by deep lintels, Sashigamoi, that carry the doors and also take load from above.
Reading the records and the house
Records use terms such as yomadori plan, regular yomadori and staggered yomadori, distinguishing the variants. The east main house of the former Ishibashi family in Hikone, Shiga, has an earth-floored passage along its east side behind the street wing and living rooms in a regular yomadori. A shrine-priest family house in Hidakagawa, Wakayama, has a staggered yomadori and, befitting a shrine-priest family, a large household altar. The Okuno family house in Hirakata, Osaka, has a large earth floor in its western half and raised rooms based on a regular yomadori, with a formal entrance at the front.
For comparison, the Okuno family house in Toyonaka, Osaka, is recorded as having originally had a nine-room plan of three rows by three. The number and arrangement of rooms indicate the size and standing of a house.
On site, look from the earth floor into the raised rooms and follow the posts and sliding panels between them. Two rooms front and back on each side, with partitions crossing at the centre, make a yomadori. Partitions are often removed or added in later alterations, so the record should be used together with the present layout to work out the original plan.
References
- 旧石橋家住宅東主屋｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009627
- 寒川家住宅主屋｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009819
- 奥野家住宅主屋（枚方市）｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/222274
- 奥野家住宅主屋（豊中市）｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/183476
Last verified: 2026.09.26