Tokonoma

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tokonoma 床の間 alcove for decorations, art nook

- part of the entry about
. Interior Design - The Japanese Home .



- - - More in the Japanese WIKIPEDIA !
tokonoma with a scroll of Daruma　だるま

- quote
tokonoma　床の間 lit. alcove room.
A *tatami 畳 mat room with a small alcove. There are various theories about the origin of the alcove. It may have been a sleeping alcove, built just large enough for bedding. Later the alcove floor was raised above the level of the floor. The alcove was then enlarged to the size of two mats, and then it contracted again to one raised mat. The alcove thus became the honored seat for a guest of high rank. The other mat was placed at floor level. On occasion, a cozy alcove was formed by screens surrounding this type of arrangement. In the Kamakura period, to the latter part of the Muromachi period, the alcove had a raised floor and could be used as a seat or a platform.

By the end of the Kamakura period, a Buddhist picture was hung on the wall and was the focal point of the tokonoma. A board to display objects *oshi-ita 押板, was set before the wall hanging, on which were exhibited a vase of flowers, an incense burner and a candlestick. These three things are important to Buddhism and are referred to as the three implements, mitsugusoku 三具足.

In the Muromachi period, it became customary to hang a scroll with a Zen priest's calligraphic inscription, along with the vase of flowers and the incense burner. The candlestick was omitted then. By the Momoyama period, the alcove took on its familiar form and was used principally for displaying treasured art objects.

The size and arrangement of the alcove varied according to the diversified tastes of the tea masters. An old record, for instance, mentions an alcove 180cm long attached to a tea ceremony room *chashitsu 茶室 used by Murata Jukou 村田珠光 (1423-1502). This alcove was pasted with white Japanese paper called *torinokogami 鳥の子紙 and had frames that were covered with black laquer. Takeno Jouou 武野紹鴎 (1502-55) preferred a smaller alcove and tea ceremony room. Sen Rikyuu 千利休 (1522-91) used alcoves with styles familiar today.

Characteristics from both the *shoin 書院 style alcoves and the styles of alcoves found in tea architecture were fused to produce the alcove common to ordinary dwellings. Tokonoma are called a great variety of names such as
kamizadoko上座床 (lit. upper seat alcove), and
shimozadoko下座床 (lit. lower seat alcove).

Sometimes tokonoma are named after the tea master who designed them, for example *oribedoko 織部床,
or for the particular width of the alcove, such as *daimedoko 台目床.

See *hondoko 本床, plain wooden alcove *itadoko 板床, a tatami mat alcove *tatamidoko 畳床, *fumikomidoko 踏込床, *murodoko 室床, *horadoko 洞床, *fukurodoko 袋床, *kabedoko 壁床, *okidoko 置床, *tsukedoko 付床, *tsuridoko 釣床, *masudoko 桝床, *kasumidoko 霞床, *ensoudoko 円窓床, *gensoudoko 原叟床, *nurimawashidoko 塗回床.
- source : JAANUS




CLICK for more samples !

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Tokobashira　床柱 alcove post
Also called nihonbashira 二本柱, because originally both the pillars to the left and right of the alcove, *tokonoma 床の間, were considered as central pillars.

The pillar closest to the center of the tea ceremony room, and the second of two pillars dictate the width of the alcove. As in formal shoin style *shoin-zukuri 書院造 tea ceremony rooms, tokobashira are chamfered. They are made of cypress or rarer woods. In semi-formal rustic type tea ceremony rooms, pine, maple, mulberry, sandalwood and ebony are employed. In the simplest, most unpretentious style tea ceremony rooms, polished logs of Japanese cedar, chestnut, bamboo and other unusual kinds of timber are used.

The diary MATSUO NIKKI 松尾日記, mid. 19c, states that the alcove post which retained the bark was first used by Furuta Oribe 古田織部 (1554-1615). Even material from old historical buildings was sometimes used. Since the alcove pillar is an important part of the interior design, in *sukiya 数奇屋 style tea houses it occasionally bears the marks of having been scraped by an adze to give it a rough finish.

Chamfered posts were used to produce a dignified appearance in *shoin 書院 rooms. There are many extant examples of alcove pillars in tea ceremony rooms dating from the late 16c-early 17c that were made of chestnut wood with an adze finish.
- source : JAANUS

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Giving Daruma a smoke.
Present only as a painting on a hanging scroll in the tokonoma, Daruma is stirred to life by a courtesan. As he leans toward her, she turns and offers him her pipe.
Ink Sketch. Farland Collection
http://wwar.com/masters/s/suzuki_harunobu.html

. Daruma and the Courtesans 芸者,花魁とだるま、女だるま .

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Noto Peninsula 能登半島 Noto Hantoo
ae no koto, aenokoto あえのこと / アエノコト / 饗事
Entertaining the God of the Fields
Nowadays there are few families who continue this ritual, which is passed on from father to son. It is an intangible cultural property of Japan and the UNESCO.



On November 5 of the old lunar calendar, now December 5, the God of the Fields is invited into the home by the elder of the family, clad in formal hakama trousers and a robe with the family crest. He gets a great offering from the harvest. The elder sits in front of the tokonoma, where a scroll with the blind deity is hung. He tells him all the things. One important item is a two-pronged large radish, to symbolize fertility. All food offerings are given in two portions, for the God of the Fields and his Wife. There are two sets of chopsticks for the deities.

. Ta no Kami, God of the Rice Fields　田の神さま .

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Akamai Sama - The red rice of Tsushima, Nagasaki
長崎・対馬の漁師に伝わる赤米さまと不思議な神事
akamai shinji 赤米神事 ritual of the red rice

Tsushima is an island between Japan and Korea, and was an important trade stop-over for the sea trade since olden times. Rice from the mainland came via this island to Japan.


In the "fields of the Gods" at Takuzutama Shrine (た くずたまじんじゃ 多久虫玉神社) there are 15 farmer families who keep the tradition. They cultivate the rice for offerings. Each family is leading the ceremonies for one year. After the harvest they prepare a large tawara straw bag with seed rice of the first harvest, called the "tanemomidawara 種籾俵" and hang it high in the tokonoma space for prayers.
They add some special seaweed, nezumi mo ねずみ藻, to the decoration to appease the god of the sea.
The deity in residence at the shrine is Takamimusubi no mikoto 高皇産霊尊 at a special shrine, Takamimusubi jinja 高御魂神社.

. Rice plant (ine 稲, sanae 早苗 ) .

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quote
Tsukimachi, Himachi 　月待ち　・　日待ち
"Waiting for the Moon," and "Waiting for the Sun."　

"Waiting for the moon" is an occasion when people gather on particular evenings of a lunar cycle (e.g. the seventeenth, nineteenth, twenty second, and twenty third) to eat, drink, and pay homage to the moon as they wait for it to appear. The gatherings are often organized by religious organizations known as kō, whose members assemble at their established meeting place (tōya, usually the organizer's home), hang a scroll of the moon god, Tsukuyomi no Mikoto　月讀尊, in the tokonoma alcove, light (a) votive candle(s), and wait for the moon to appear.
source : Iwai Hiroshi . Kokugakuin University

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. Tengupedia - 天狗ペディア　- Tengu ABC-List.


source : geocities.jp/sanmoku0359...

tokobashira 床柱 alcove post
Once a man went 奥道後 deep in the forest of Dogo and cut a tree to make an alcove post for his home.
But the man developed a high fever and died shortly after.
A diviner told the family that this was a divine tree and the man had been thrown around by a Tengu as punishment.

. Tengu Legends from Ehime .


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Kakejiku　掛け軸　Scroll with Daruma




From a Japanese Meditating Room
Shared by a Daruma friend

. Kakejiku　掛け軸　Scroll and the Tokonoma .

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重陽やリヤドロ雛を床の間に　　
chooyoo ya riyadoro-bina o tokonoma ni

double nine day -
we decorate Lladro-dolls
in the tokonoma

source : 京羅坊（kyorabo)

. Chrysanthemum Festival (chooyoo 重陽) .

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炉塞ぎや床は維摩(ゆいま)に掛け替る
ro　fusagi ya toko wa yuima ni kakekaeru

fermant l’âtre,
je remplace la peinture dans l’alcôve
par une de Yuima
(Tr. Daniel Py)

Quand on ferme l’âtre, au printemps, on change la peinture dans le tokonoma, l’alcôve. Le printemps est arrivé avec toute sa joie et son activité, mais nous disons au-revoir à l’âtre, ce vieil ami, et un léger sentiment de solitude nous envahit. Pour cette raison il choisit une peinture de Yuima, malade parce que le monde entier était malade, et qui, quand on lui demanda la signification des choses, répondit par le silence. (. . .)
R.H. Blyth.

. Yosa Buson 与謝蕪村 - Introduction .


source :　石川晴彦Ishikawa Haruhiko

. Yuima Koji (Vimalakirti) 維摩居士 .
a layman Buddhist from India


. ro fusagi 炉塞 (ろふさぎ) closing the irori open hearth .
ro no nagori 炉の名残（ろのなごり）
..... robuta 炉蓋（ろぶた）cover for the irori
- - kigo for late spring

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すが漏のあと床の間の壁にあり
sugamori no ato toko no ma no kabe ni ari

leaks from melted ice
make patterns on the wall
of the tokonoma . . .

Takizawa Iyoji 瀧澤伊代次




sugamori すが洩り (すがもり) leeking of melting icewater
... suga more すが漏（すがもれ）
- - kigo for late winter

suga is dialect of Northern Japan. Snow and ice around the home begin to melt and leek through the apertures in the roof or windows or below doors.

. WKD - kigo for winter at home .


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Tokobashira　床柱 alcove post

春雨や仮鬚掛けたる床柱
笋や行末はたが床柱
行く春のもたれ心や床柱
床柱鼻もうたずに郭公
弓靱紫苑生けたり床柱

. Masaoka Shiki 正岡子規 .

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ほととぎすむかしの宿や床柱 調巴
何処からも見える越後の床柱 松下雅静
元日の夕日さしをり床柱 金尾梅の門
六月の京より届く床柱 生野照子
六月や月光しばし床柱 黒田杏子
冬麗のまんなかにある床柱 桂信子
鏡中に昭和果てたる床柱 桂信子
利休忌や楓の細き床柱 井水貞子
師の声の聞えて涼し床柱 深見けん
後の雛濤音ひびく床柱 田中英子
春浅く短冊換へぬ床柱 高濱年尾
春眠やよろけて凭る床柱 木内美恵子
桃一つ残りて黒き床柱 柿本多映
正客や暑さぞまさる床柱 雪色 選集
濃紫陽花一輪匂う床柱 中嶋正子
秋すでに傷ふかく立つ床柱 中村苑子
秋袷端折りて拭きし床柱 金龍綵子
臘梅をいけて無骨な床柱 京極杞陽
苧殻火を映せる父の床柱 沼尻巳津子
蓬莱や父の背に負ふ床柱 加藤耕子
行く秋の光澄む古き床柱 石塚友二
褞袍着て背に明るさの床柱 井出節子
避寒して海の入日に床柱 波多野爽波
雑巾や杉に時雨る床柱 一滴 「板東太郎」
雪の夜は梢をおもふ床柱 正木ゆう子
霧の夜の村を捨てたい床柱 室生幸太郎
青葉冷えこのしづけさに床柱 中村祐子
青葉寒む翁も倚りし床柱 岡本差知子

床柱拭く手見えゐる除夜旧家 鷲谷七菜子
床柱磨くことより年用意 水谷成一
床柱輪飾かけていや古りし 吉屋信子

- source : HAIKUreikuDB

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new year decoration with willow branches
kake yanagi, kakeyanagi　掛柳 (かけやなぎ)
..... yanagi kakeru 柳掛くる（やなぎかくる）
binding willow branches, musubi yanagi 結柳（むすびやなぎ），むすび柳
- - kigo for the New Year

Willow branches are hung out of a freshly cut bamboo vase in the tokonoma or over the hearth before making the first fire. The longer the branches hang down, the better. Sometimes even up to 5 meters long ! Long branches are also wound together to a ring, as a celebration to the sun gaining new strength for the coming year.

. yanagi 柳 the willow and its kigo .

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