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One of the TV shows was looking at old Japanese houses, and showed us a sort of stone-lined hole in the floor. Kind of like a chimney, but going down, not up. Apparently this was a somewhat common feature in relatively well-to-do houses at one point. The kind that had a stand-alone safe building for keeping their family treasures, which is another common feature of some older architecture here in Japan.
However, this hole was in front of the little family shrine, the butsudon, inside the living space. Under some wood slats that were easily lifted out of the way. Apparently in case of a fire in the area, the family was supposed to pull up the wood and push the family memorial bits and pieces into this hole. I guess preserving the ancestral tablets was reasonably important. And what happened to the family member who was designated to push stuff into the hole while the fire gets closer?
I wondered if anybody ever used it. Or was this just a sop to fears that was never actually used?
However, this hole was in front of the little family shrine, the butsudon, inside the living space. Under some wood slats that were easily lifted out of the way. Apparently in case of a fire in the area, the family was supposed to pull up the wood and push the family memorial bits and pieces into this hole. I guess preserving the ancestral tablets was reasonably important. And what happened to the family member who was designated to push stuff into the hole while the fire gets closer?
I wondered if anybody ever used it. Or was this just a sop to fears that was never actually used?
