Saturday, August 04, 2001

More Searches for Obscure Stuff (Oshiire)

First up is oshiire which is the closet used to store futons in: Here's a good picture of an osiire. A list of japanese furnishings such as a fuulin (wind chime), genkan & getabako (the entrance and shoe storage), iroli (a fireplace in the middle of the room), kotatsu (sorta like a coffe table, but with a space for a heater and you over it with a blanket and sit with your legs under the blanket to keep warm), noren (doorway curtain), oshiire (closet that is built-in to the house to store futons), and tatami (mats). Japanese Housing Customs is another good page with pictures of various rooms and items. An article about the japanese futon discusses a little history and the parts of japanese bedding. A big page about Talking About Culture - Learning the "Japanese Way" discusses the oshiire in a passing mention. A short article about staying in a japanese house. My Furusato is another web site done by a western couple who live in japan (lots of small pictures). Here's a fun one, "Useful information for your daily life" talks about all sorts of things and has cute illustrations. Traditional Houses and the Japanese View of Life is a very long, well-written article about japanese culture.

posted by Wuphon's at 7:21 AM