1 A private service-oriented room in the mansions of aristocrats, warriors, retired emperors, abbots and senior prelates during the Kamakura and Muromachi periods. It functioned as a withdrawing room for the personal servants of the master of the house, and was also used for final preparation and serving of his meals. It served a similar function to the *osue 御末, though the latter ranked above it in terms of status.
2 In the shogun's residence and the mansions of the daimyō 大名 in the Edo period, a service room at the rear used as a withdrawing area and common room by general serving maids, zatsueki jochū 雑役女中.
3 In vernacular houses *minka 民家, of the Edo period in the south of the Izu 伊豆 peninsula, islands, and in parts of Nagano, Yamanashi, Tottori, Fukuoka, Saga and Kumamoto Prefectures, a family living and dining room. In Izu, it is the room adjacent to the earth-floored area *doma 土間, at the rear of the house. In some cases it was at the front of the building again adjacent to the doma on the upper *kamite 上手 side.
4 Also termed nakae 中え in Saga, Fukuoka, Tottori, and Shizuoka Prefectures, deiguchi 出居口. In parts of Nagasaki prefecture, a term nakae for the earth-floored area doma. In Hiroshima Prefecture, it constitutes a projection at the rear of the main building. In parts of Tottori Prefecture, a term nakae for one of the seats around the *irori 囲炉裏. Often used interchangeably with nakai.