hakokaidan 箱階段

Also referred to as hakodan 箱段 and hakohashigo 箱梯子. A combined stairway and storage chest, common in town houses *machiya 町家 from the early to mid Edo period. Also found in other types of vernacular dwellings *minka 民家, and sometimes in temples. The stairway was framed up as a series of boxes, and the redundant space beneath the treads was utilized to provide storage space in the form of cupboards todana 戸棚 and drawers hikidashi 引出し. Often a moveable feature rather than a fixture.