nijiriguchi 躙口

Also called nijiri agariguchi 躙上り口; nijirido 躙戸 and kuguriguchi 潜口. Lit. "a crawl-in or wriggle-in entrance." An exceedingly small entrance for guests in a rustic style tea ceremony room. Hosokawa Tadaoki 細川忠興 (also called Sansai 三斎; 1563-1645) stated in his *Hosokawa Sansai chasho 細川三斎茶書 that "To enter the nijiri, one must first put in one's hands and then one's head. Then one must bend down, kneel on one knee, and slip in sideways." The standard measure of the entrance is 65 cm H x 60 cm W. The *Nanbōroku 南方録 states that Sen no Rikyū 千利休 (1522-91) first created this type of entrance in a two mat, nijō 二畳, tea ceremony room *chashitsu 茶室. Both the Matsuya nikki 松屋日記 and the Sadōshiso densho 茶道四祖伝書 state that Sen no Rikyū was intrigued by a rough, small entrance, kuguriguchi, to a wharf near his residence and therefore used it in a small tea room. The nijiriguchi is usually located in a corner of the tea room opening onto a guest mat and one of the corner posts serves as an upright for the door frame. The threshold *hitosuji 一筋, and lintel *hasami shikii kamoi 挟敷居鴨居, are inserted into the bottom and top of the entrance, and a small post *hōdate 方立 is positioned on the opposite side of the pillar. A single wooden door is hung and can be pulled toward the small post when opened. The door slides on a groove about 1.8 cm wide inside the lintel and threshold. Boards cover the door frame from the outside and there is a latch inside the door for security. Examples: Konchi'in Hassōseki 金地院八窓席, Kyoto, Nanshūji Jissōan 南宗寺実相庵, Osaka.