Lit. chain room. The origin of the term is unclear. According to the Fuhaku hikki 不白筆記 (Notes Written by Kawakami Fuhaku 川上不白; 1716-1807), the kusari-no-ma was either a place where food was cooked for guests or where the guests ate after the tea ceremony was performed. Adjacent to the tea ceremony room *chashitsu 茶室 or *sukiya 数寄屋, it was a place for storing and washing utensils *mizuya 水屋, which was sext to the kusari-no-ma, which was believed to have been about four mats, yojō 四畳 or to six mats, rokujō 六畳 in size. The Fuhaku hikki also states that the room contained a long firebox *dairo 大炉. As recorded in the Yōshūfushi 擁州府志 (1684), according to Sen no Rikyū 千利休 (1522-91), a kusari-no-ma was a room where cooking was done and trays of food were prepared for the guests. The Yōshūfushi states that a kettle, suspended by an iron chain, was hung over the firebox. The formal drawing room *shoin 書院 has a chain with a hook at the the end on which to hang a kettle over the sunken hearth *ro 炉. Examples: 1 The kusari-no-ma (also called rokujō-no-ma 六畳間) at Nishi Honganji Kuroshoin 西本願寺黒書院 in Kyoto is a six mat room with a shelved cabinet, the top of which has doors, and below, closets. This room is separated from the tea ceremony room by a three-mat room. 2 Ekansansō Chaya 恵観山荘茶屋 at Jōmyōji 浄明寺 in Kanagawa Prefecture. Built in 1652, it was moved from Kyoto to the premises of Yamada Sōi 山田宗囲 (1908- ) at Jōmyōji and used for the Sōhen school of tea, Sōhenryū 宗偏流, founded by Yamada Sōhen 山田宗偏 (1627-1708).
