In Japanese houses, “Shoji / Fusuma” is provided as both a room divider and door for entering and exiting. It was not until the modern days that the doors with hinges (doors) were installed in ordinary houses. Perhaps around after the Meiji period.

With the end of the Edo period, cultures centered on Europe and the United States came in from overseas and the Japanese lifestyle changed completely. Clothes, food, housing, everything. Since the “clothing” and “food” fields are more closely related to daily life, it would have quickly permeated the general public. That was not the case with lifestyle. There’s no need to constantly rebuild a home, right? Japan was obsessed with lifestyle centered around the floor, rather than tables. When you enter the room, you sit down on the floor. Thus, daily necessities are also placed on the floor. A movable range is required to open and close the door. Well… we can imagine it hinders much of the space. It would be nice to make the whole house wider and larger, but basically Japanese houses are small. There are few locations where a door could be built. To take advantage of the limited space as much as possible, sliding doors are suitable for room partitions and doors. It seems to be that sliding doors are still used frequently in detached houses, as well as apartments.

“Shoji / Fusuma” is one of the types of sliding doors. Their major feature is that they can be easily removed. You can change the room divider. You can change it depending on whether people gather inside, or for indoor temperature adjustments for each season. In addition, it is easy to change the design of the room by changing the “Shoji / Fusuma”. “Shoji / Fusuma” has a structure in which paper is attached to a wooden frame. If the wooden frame is not damaged, it can be repaired simply by changing the paper. It is quite simple. Of course, the doors facing the outdoors are made of wood only. “Sill door” or “Amado” is that. However, things made only with traditional wooden frames and paper are becoming less common. That’s why the decorations and shapes are so diverse.

If you have an opportunity to see it, please pay attention.