Japanese aesthetics: the tokonoma

In every Japanese home or restaurant, you’ll see a little alcove like this:

In Japanese, this is called the tokonoma (床の間). Usually there’s a hanging scroll of an art scene, or calligraphy. In my wife’s house in Japan, her parents hung up a scroll of my wife’s calligraphy. Back when we were first dating, her calligraphy teacher, whom she had known for a long time, asked her to submit a piece for an exhibit. I still remember her spending a long time trying to decide what character to write, but she finally decided on ki (祈) for “prayer“. So, a copy of that calligraphy now hangs in the tokonoma at my in-laws house.

But here’s a little piece of trivia you probably didn’t know. According to my culture guidebook, the tokonoma was originally only built in Buddhist temples in order to set ritual instruments like incense burners, flower vases, and candles under a Buddhist image. Because it was a kind of holy place, it was often a nice setting for housing guests, and the trend caught on during the Muromachi Period (14th – 16th centuries) starting with the wealthy, then everyone.

The reason why I thought of this topic was because my boss at work is going to Japan soon, and had a crash-course on Japanese business manners, including what position you sit depending on rank, guest vs. host, and so on. According to the same guidebook, the highest ranking guest would sit at the table with his back facing the tokonoma, with the second and third guest sitting at his/her right and left respectively. The reason, it explains, is that if the guests face the tokonoma, it seems like the host is showing off. Also, the tokonoma is always away from the door, so that’s an added benefit to the guest.

Something to keep in mind the next time you eat a Japanese restaurant or visit someone’s house.