jōdan 上段

A dais or a part of the floor in aristocratic dwellings of the *shoin 書院 style, that was elevated a step higher than the general flooring. The room in which the jōdan is found is also called the jōdan no ma 上段の間, and is the place where the person of highest rank sits. The remaining floor space is called the *gedan 下段 or lower step area. In halls where shogun addressed daimyō 大名 and their highest ranking retainers, a middle stepped area *chūdan 中段 was constructed between the jōdan and gedan. Surrounding the jōdan, in the most formal shoin halls, was a decorative alcove *tokonoma 床の間 with staggered shelves *chigaidana 違い棚. On the outer wall was a desk-like arrangement tsukeshoin 付書院 and on the opposite wall were elaborate decorative doors *chōdaigamae 帳台構え. The ceiling above the jōdan is coved, coffered, and finely latticed *oriage kogumi gōtenjō 折上小組格天井. Before the Muromachi period only wooden plank flooring was used for jōdan. Individual mats in varying sizes and thicknesses, and bound in various colors with fabric, were assigned to personages according to their rank. When straw mats *tatami 畳 were introduced to cover the entire floor, the previous mat-system of indicating rank became ineffective, and the solution was to elevate the floor as described above. A famous example was the Ōhiroma 大広間 of Nijōjō 二条城, Kyoto (built 1600), where Tokugawa Ieyasu 徳川家康 (1542-1616) held audiences with the court and military. Large rural dwellings *minka 民家 also gradually began to have a jōdan after the Momoyama period; Minka were the homes of village headmen and sake brewers, as well as accommodating first class inns, etc. The Furui 古井 residence (15th-16th century, Hyōgo Prefecture) has a jōdan no ma as well as the Yakake Inn (17th-19th century, Nara). The shoin style was used here to accommodate high ranking noblemen and daimyō.