Niwa (庭)

  • Okuniwa with chōzubachi on the front right and ishitōro on the rear left.

Gardens are an indispensable element of machiya, and the bigger ones have two: a very small inner garden called tsuboniwa and a larger back yard facing the zashiki, which is called okuniwa. 

As the houses are quite long and narrow, both air circulation as well as lighting are not the best. Sitting inside the rather dark rooms and looking outside on the garden with its contrasts of light and shadow brings a feeling of serenity and also adds to the house's beauty. Because traditional Japanese culture gives great importance to nature and the seasons, a garden is also a nice way to bring a little bit of nature into a city dwelling. The tsuboniwa is normally located between the public mise space and the private part of the house. Its name comes from the Japanese square measure tsubo, which are approximately 3.3 square metres. While some tsuboniwa really are only as big as that, many are somewhat larger, especially in big, stately machiya of wealthy merchants. 

As a stark contrast, the okuniwa is much more extensive, again depending on the wealth of the house's owner. In it, there are several distinctive ornaments that one can find in almost any okuniwa in Kyōto. There is, for example, the tsukubai, originally an ensemble of a washbasin (chōzubachi) and several distinct stones in front of teahouses. In a machiya's garden, it is normally used as an accent to bring a cool atmosphere into the garden and house in the summer. Another very common detail is a stone lantern called ishitōro or ishidōro. It is usually made of seven different stone elements.

But it is not only for aesthetic or sentimental reasons that a garden is essential for a machiya. Kyōto's summers are famous for being very hot and humid, and nowadays people generally seem to hurry from one air-conditioned place to the next, avoiding the heat as well as possible. Before air conditioning was brought to Japan, however, people had to find other ways of cooling their houses. This is where the garden enters the stage. If one wets the stones in the tsuboniwa with water, it starts to evaporate, causing the air to rise up. This creates a cool breeze between the tsuboniwa and the back garden, which acts as a natural air conditioner and makes the damp summer heat a little easier to endure.