A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE INCLUSION OF CHILDREN’S ROOMS DURING THE MODERNIZATION OF JAPANESE DETACHED HOUSES

Abstract

In Japan, housing problems have been actively discussed at the civil level since the 1900s (the late Meiji Era). In particular, discussions were focused on the improvement of living spaces in traditional Japanese dwellings. Most plans for new houses were created for upper middle-class families. However, over time, Japanese houses gradually became Westernized and modernized. The design and positioning of children’s rooms began to appear in house plans. During the Edo Era, most Japanese traditional houses did not include children’s rooms. However, beginning in the late Meiji Era, the modernization movement increased the number of children’s rooms included in Japanese modern housing plans. This paper assumes that the inclusion of children’s rooms in Japanese housing plans expanded in relation to the modernization of housing. We examined changes in the positioning of children’s rooms in Japanese detached houses by analyzing housing plan books first published during a period that began in the 1900s (late Meiji Era) and ended in the 1940s (early Showa Era). This study revealed that (1) the earliest children’s rooms appeared during the late Meiji Era, although they solely appeared in a limited percentage of published house plans. The number of children’s rooms increased after the Taisho Era. (2) Many house plans published during the early stage tended to position children’s rooms on ground floors. (3) During the Showa Era, children’s rooms were connected to parent’s bedrooms and gradually positioned on upper floors.