This paper traces some links between back sides of town-houses and backyard in a block of Kyoto at the initial stage of the early modern period. Historical materials written by Christian missionaries are used in order to analyze forms of town-houses and their backyard which were depicted in the screens of 'Rakuchu-Rakugai-zu' of the first part of the seventeenth century. The paper concludes that rooms facing on to backyard changed to be formal and have wide windows while backyard changed to be subdivided into gardens of town-houses by hedge, fence and wall. Wealthy house-holders started to enclose backyard behind their houses.
