muro　室

KEY WORD :　architecture / general terms, folk dwellings

1　In Japan's earliest compilations, the 8c KOJIKI 古事記 and NIHONSHOKI 日本書紀, a term applied to structures used for residential purposes or for holding banquets, some of which seem to have had excavated 　or sunken floors. An example is the great muro, Oomuro 大室 at Ousaka 忍坂 in the account of Jinmu's 神武 invasion of Yamato 大和, which is described as having been excavated, implying a pit structure tateana 竪穴. Eighty people were said to have feasted in this muro, suggesting a structure of considerable scale. 2　In residential structures of the *kofun 古墳 and ancient period, an enclosed inner room, often with plastered walls and few openings, used as a sleeping room and a storage space. See *nurigome 塗籠. 3　A term for monks' living quarters *soubou 僧房 in temples. Applied both to hermitages, anshitsu 庵室, and to the long ranges of cells common in the great temples of the ancient period , such the *Higashimuro 東室, *Nishimuro 西室, and *Tsumamuro 妻室 of Houryuuji 法隆寺 in Nara. 4　Also okuden 奥殿：believed to be an abbreviation and transformation of the term *himorogi 神籬. 5　Storage structures with thick plastered walls, usually with a sunken floor and thatched roof, providing protection for extremes of temperature and humidity. Examples include the yeast store-house koujimuro 麹室, the room for drying lacquer urushimuro 漆室, the room for drying plants uekimuro 植木室 and the ice store-house himuro 氷室. 6　A kind of storage pit, anagura 穴蔵, used mainly for storing mulberry leaves for sericulture and sweet potatoes. Used on farmsteads in the Tama 多摩 area of Tokyo. 7　In parts of Nagano and Gunma prefectures, a pit with deeply sunken floor, accessible via a ladder, with a roof of thatch and earth. Used as an internal working space during the cold winter months. 8　In the Suwa 諏訪 area of Nagano prefecture, a pit-like structure with thatched gabled roof, erected by young people of local villages as a winter gathering place *kaisho 会所. 9　A small room hived off in the far corner of the earth-floored area *doma 土間 in farmhouses in Saitama prefecture. Used as a store for cereals and a protected workspace in winter.

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