| 1 The
entrance gallery or porch used in the guest hall *kyakuden
客殿, high priest's living quarters *houjou
方丈, or main hall *hondou
本堂 of a Zen 禅 temple. The earliest known basic layout of the genkan
is shown on the 14c. plan of Kenchouji 建長寺 in Kanagawa prefecture. It takes
the form of a gateway across the final bays of a gallery occupying the central
axis of the temple plan. By the 16c, the term genkan was applied
to a tiled gallery projecting from the front facade of the houjou
usually at the lower end *shimote
下手. This gallery, which was the formal guest entrance to the building, was
one bay wide and two or more bays in length. The genkan opened onto
the garden in front, and backed onto an entrance court, which was closed
off with panels of plastered wall. It was sometimes straight in plan and
sometimes terminated in an L shape. It had a gabled roof *kirizuma
切妻 or Chinese-style gable *karahafu
唐破風, where the gable end contained a doorway fitted with a pair of panelled
pivoted doors *karado
唐戸. During the Edo period, the gallery-type genkan was often superseded
by a porch built on the front of the link between the houjou and
the temple kitchen *kuri
庫裡, similar in detail to the secular genkan (see two below). The
latter type later came to be adopted not just by the Zen sect but by all
religious sects. |
| 2 From the early decades of the 17c the
term genkan came to be applied to a porch-like projection from
the guard house or retainers room, built in the residences of leading
warriors and shoguns. This functioned as an entrance porch, kurumayose
車寄せ, and was sometimes referred to as kurumayose genkan 車寄せ玄関.
It had solid flanking walls, a paved floor and a flight of steps at
the far end giving access to the room beyond. By the 1630's the genkan
was equipped with a low broad timber step *shikidai
式台, upon which the visitor could alight from his palanquin, koshi
輿. One or two steps above the shikidai, the interface with
the room beyond typically consisted of two pairs of sliding panels,*mairado 舞良戸
or itado 板戸. Originally this porch-type genkan was added to
the building for the use of retainers, but by the early 17c it had
been transformed into a formal entrance, onari genkan 御成り玄関,
which was a symbol of high social status, restricted by legislation
to members of the warrior class, the aristocracy and leading religious
figures. |
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| Nijoujou
Ni-no-maru goten 二条城 二の丸御殿 (Kyoto) |
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| 3 In the latter half of the Edo period,
an abbreviated version of genkan in two above. Sometimes projecting
no further than the width of a veranda, *engawa
縁側, but usually a complete platform *shikidai
式台 for boarding and alighting from a palanquin. Often had a decorative
gable, and was generally found in middle-ranking warrior residences,
serving as the formal entrance to the guest reception suite *zashiki
座敷. Apart from formal guests, its use was normally restricted to the
master of the house, while other family members used another less
elaborate entrance constructed nearby. In the case of vernacular houses
*minka 民家, possession
of a genkan was prohibited during the Edo period, but by the
18c the houses of leading merchants and village headmen shouya
庄屋, as well as feudal lords' lodgings *honjin
本陣 were increasingly permitted to build genkan as part of *shoin
書院 style guest reception suites. Genkan were also permitted
on the houses of doctors, and officials in charge of important shrines,
shinkan 神官. The genkan was usually added to the outermost
room of the reception suite. Although the grandest minka genkan
were elaborately gabled projecting porches, the majority were incorporated
into the periphery of the building *hisashi
廂. In town houses *machiya
町家, an internal genkan with shikidai was often be constructed
within the earth-floored area *doma
土間 to provide a formal point of entry to the raised living area kyoshitsubu
居室部. |
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| Nagatomi
永富 house ( Hyougo) |
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4 From around the end of the Edo period,
the main entrance to the houses of lower-ranking warriors and foot
soldiers ashigaru 足軽. It often included an internal earth-floored
area for removing shoes, but lacked a shikidai. This type is
the forerunner of the genkan used in the average modern Japanese house.
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| 5 An abbreviation for genkan-no-ma
玄関の間. |
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