座敷

Japanese

Kanji in this term
座	敷
ざ Grade: 6	しき Grade: S
jūbakoyomi

Etymology

A compound of 座 (za, “sitting”) +‎ 敷 (shiki, “spreading, covering”), the stem noun form of verb 敷く (shiku, “to spread or lay out on the floor or ground”).

Japanese houses originally had wood floors, and mats or cushions called 座 (za) would be laid out (敷く (shiku)) for sitting upon. Tatami (畳) flooring did not become common until some time during the Muromachi Period, approximately 1337 to 1573.

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ざしき [zàshíkíꜜ] (Odaka – [3])
• IPA^(key): [d͡za̠ɕikʲi]

Noun

座(ざ)敷(しき) • (zashiki) 

1. a traditional Japanese-style room with tatami flooring, or in older times, with wood flooring and mats or cushions for sitting upon
2. such a room used as a parlor to receive guests
3. by extension from the meaning of entertaining guests:
   1. a seat at a feast or party
   2. an invitation to a feast or party
   3. a feast or party
   4. (euphemistic) used by geisha and other entertainers, meaning a customer or patron
   5. (Noh, archaic) the audience of a Noh performance

Coordinate terms

• 土間(どま) (doma): The earthen floor-level at the entrance of traditional Japanese houses; farmhouses, townhouses, etc.
• 広間(ひろま) (hiroma): The raised-wooden main floor-level in a traditional Japanese houses; farmhouses, townhouses, etc.

Derived terms

Derived terms

• 座敷形(ざしきなり) (zashikinari): perfunctory, just enough to get by
• 座敷芸(ざしきげい) (zashikigei): an entertainment or other performance at a feast or party
• 座敷乞食(ざしきこじき) (zashiki kojiki): someone who takes as much food and drink home as possible after being treated to a meal: a mooch
• 座敷行灯(ざしきあんどん) (zashiki andon): a traditional paper-shaded lamp used in a tea room
• 座敷持(ざしきもち) (zashikimochi): from the mid-Edo Period, a prostitute who has her own room in the red light district
• 座敷女中(ざしきじょちゅう) (zashiki jochū): a female servant or maid who waits on customers or guests at a restaurant or inn
• 座敷浄瑠璃(ざしきじょうるり) (zashiki jōruri): a 浄瑠璃(じょうるり) (jōruri) performance without puppets, given at a private home or at a zashiki party
• 座敷大蛾(ざしきすずめ), 座敷雀(ざしきすずめ) (zashiki suzume): alternate word for 内雀(うちすずめ) (uchisuzume), hummingbird or hawk moths of subfamily Smerinthinae, family Sphingidae
• 座敷天麩羅(ざしきてんぷら) (zashiki tenpura): tempura fried up and served fresh in a zashiki room
• 座敷童子(ざしきわらし) (zashiki warashi): a kind of yōkai: a red-faced ghost or apparition of a child haunting an old house, particularly the inner zashiki room
• 座敷能(ざしきのう) (zashiki nō): a Noh performance given in a zashiki room
• 座敷付(ざしきつき) (zashikitsuki): parlor-room etiquette
• 座敷兵法(ざしきひょうほう) (zashiki hyōhō): theory without practice
• 座敷奉行(ざしきぶぎょう) (zashiki bugyō): a general concierge for a meeting hall or conference center; in the Muromachi Period, the steward in charge of preparing a daimyō household for a visit by the shōgun
• 座敷踊(ざしきおどり) (zashiki odori): dancing at a drinking party; in the red light district, a large group of prostitutes dancing in the large zashiki of a high-end brothel
• 座敷牢(ざしきろう) (zashikirō): a traditional Japanese padded cell for imprisoning criminals or the insane
• 座敷幟(ざしきのぼり) (zashiki nobori): streamers hung in the zashiki room for Children's Day on 5 May

See also

• 座敷 on the Japanese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^ja
• Minka on Wikipedia.Wikipedia