JOJG No. 45

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Japanese Furniture

In recent years there has been an Asian furniture boom and increased interest among Westerners in anything that could be classified as "Oriental furniture" or "contemporary Asian furniture."  Non-traditional items such as Japanese platform beds, Japanese hardwood furniture, and hibachi grills have become particularly popular.

This article focuses, not on those modern creations, but rather on the traditional Japanese furniture found in Japanese houses during the past several centuries.  This 8-page article discusses about one dozen types of traditional Japanese furniture, including step tansu, tatami chairs, kotatsu, Japanese desks, and andon lamps.  Some items such as tansu chests did play a significant role in Edo Period homes, but the truth is that Japanese homes are mainly remarkable for their LACK of furniture.

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