015 Yosuitei 04-05

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04-05 Shitajimado and Renjimado

Enshu liked to stack shitajimado (exposed lath window) on top of renjimado (slatted window), and he has done so in three places at the Yosuitei. This shitajimado has a single sliding paper screen, and the renjimado has double sliding paper panels (fusuma). These small, low-lying sliding panels are the most unique of the Yosuitei’s features. When closed, they shut out sunlight like solid walls, and when opened, they create bright and airy openings that transform the room of shadows into a room of light. The placement of the renjimado with its bottom edge touching the floor is an original design idea, and it was likely positioned so low to provide a glimpse of the large pond that the teahouse originally stood beside.

About the Yosuitei

Japanese teahouses (chashitsu) are unique buildings with small interiors and many types of windows. The Yosuitei is a thatched hut-style teahouse from the Kanei era (1624–1644) of the early Edo period. It was commissioned by Toshitsune Maeda, the second lord of the Kaga Domain, and built alongside a waiting shelter and a reception hall with a dais at the residence of Kakujo Goto, a sword engraver and Maeda clan liege based in Kyo (present-day Kyoto). Designed by Enshu Kobori, the multiwindowed teahouse is also referred to as the Jusansoseki (lit. “Thirteen-Window Tearoom”) based on the fact that it has thirteen windows, which is the most of any extant teahouse. This project aims to extract the subtle, rich behaviors of the Yosuitei’s thirteen windows by studying the sounds and movements that they make when opened and closed.

04-05 下地窓と連子窓

連子窓の上に下地窓を重ねる手法は遠州が好んだもので、擁翠亭では三ヶ所繰り返している。下地窓は片引き障子、連子窓は両引きの襖で構成されている。畳際の小襖は他の茶室には見られない擁翠亭の最大の特徴で、閉めると壁のように光を遮り、開くと明るく開放的になり、陰から陽へと室内の様相が変化する。連子窓の下辺が畳に接していることは独自の創意で、元来この茶室は大きな池のほとりに建てられており、水面を眺めるために低い位置に窓を配したと考えられる。