Osaka Museum of Housing and Living 9th floor
Exhibition Hall 1: Osaka in the Early Modern Period
Time travel back to Edo Period
11. Ura-Nagaya Back-Alley Tenement
After entering the narrow rōji back alley on the side of the Machi-kaisho neighborhood meeting hall off the main street,
you will see a hokora miniature shrine of Anjū-Daimyōjin neighborhood god in front of you.
On the right of the shrine is ura-nagaya back-alley tenement.
This back-alley tenement consists of four row-house units, including an empty unit on the far left with a “for rent” sign posted on it.
During the Edo era, housing units in Osaka were rented out under the hadaka-gashi rental arrangement, which literally means “naked rental”.
Under this rental arrangement, only outer fittings, such as entrance door and shutter, were provided by the unit owner while all the other fittings,
joinery and furniture, including tatami straw mats, shōji paper-screen sliding doors, hettsui wood-burning stove, and hashiri kitchen sink, were provided by each tenant.
There is a tenmado (or hikimado) skylight with controlling pull string above the doma earthen floor for natural lighting and cooking ventilation.
From the empty unit to the right, the three units’ breadwinning occupants are hypothetically defined as a carpenter, a vegetable-peddler and a master of gidayū reciting, which is used for the puppet theater play.
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