Abstract
In course of long time a house would change its form and plan in order to fit the living of inhabitants. As a space of living of inhabitants, the form and plan of a house would depend upon phases of the times, social conditions and economic situation. So as to confirm this the author investigated all 265 houses in Kamitaira, Toyama Prefecture, where is an isolated mountain village and is seemed to bear many marks of historial worth as yet. A house in this area takes a peculiar form called as “gassho-zukuri” (the roof is large and its form looks like join the hands). The chief industries in this area were sericulture, paper-marking and gunpowder-making and now those fell into disuse except sericulture. It is a purpose of this investigation to find a meaning of such peculiar construction of a house from a viewpoint of living.
In this investigation the author found data on houses in 1889. The data show that about one-fourth houses in this area are so-called “koya” (form like tent). Comparing those data with present houses, the author discussed the historical developing process on “gassho-zukuri”. The following results were obtained :
1) In earlier time, most of the space in “gassho-zukuri” was used for woking rather than for living. 2) Then the “gassho-zukuri” was extended to include a living room such as an altar and a bed room. Two examples are shown. 3) The “gassho-zukuri” should be considered as a developing house of primitive house “koya”.
