ichi no ma　一の間

Lit. room one. The innermost and most prestigious room, six to twelve straw mats *tatami 畳, in a suite of formal reception rooms in the shoin style *shoin-zukuri 書院造, usually equipped with decorative alcove *tokonoma 床の間, staggered shelves *chigaidana 違い棚, and built-in desk tsukeshoin 付書院. So called to distinguish it from the outer room or rooms of the suite, ni no ma 二の間 and san no ma 三の間. An alternative term for kamizashiki上座敷 or honzashiki 本座敷, especially in the kagizashiki 鍵座敷 suites which became an increasingly common feature of well appointed large scale vernacular houses *minka 民家 in the latter half of the Edo period. Examples may be seen in the farmhouses of Fukushima Prefecture.