1 A low four-legged table used in the Kamakura and early Muromachi periods in upper class priestly and lay residences as a stand for writing materials, or the so-called three writing implements mitsugusoku 三具足: a censer *kōro 香炉, a flower vase kabin 花瓶 and a candlestick shokudai 燭台. When buddhist religious paintings butsuga 仏画 were hung against a wall for worship in priestly residences, it was customary to place these three items on the oshi-ita in front of them, as shown by scenes in medieval handscrolls *emaki 絵巻 such as the mid-14th century part of Boki ekotoba 慕帰絵詞 (The Pictorial Scroll of Yearning for Extincton) reveal. The arrangement is believed to have been extended to hanging secular pictures over the oshi-ita, as hanging scrolls *kakemono 掛物 became increasingly popular among the elite during the 14th century.
2 Muromachi and Momoyama periods precursor of the decorative recess *tokonoma 床の間 of the mature *shoin 書院 style reception room. Like the mature tokonoma it was a built-in alcove or recess framed between a pair of posts. It was often two or three bays wide but it was comparatively shallow at 1/4 of a bay or about 60 cm in depth, depending on the size of the bay, as described in the Momoyama period master carpenter's handbook *Shōmei 匠明. The baseboard was a single piece of timber which, again according to Shōmei, was as thick as the width of a post minus the bevelled zone at the corners (about 8-10 cm). The surface of the oshi-ita shelf was equal to two post diameters above the floor level and, unlike the mature tokonoma, had a narrow band of plastered infill *kokabe 小壁 between the baseboard and the floor. At the top however the arrangement of the lintel *otoshigake 落掛, was similar to that of the mature tokonoma. This type of oshi-ita is believed to represent a built-in permanent version of the table described at definition one above. The built-in type came to be known as tokooshi-ita 床押板, and the freestanding type as okioshi-ita 置き押板. The terms appear in a latter section of Boki ekotoba (late 15th century), and this, together with other evidence suggests that the built-in oshi-ita was a product of the mid-15th century. It was used in the room of highest status in a suite of reception rooms. Its replacement by the mature tokonoma design with a depth of half a bay and low threshold *tokogamachi 床框 took place during the first half of the 17th century.
Inuyamajō Tenshu 犬山城天守 (Aichi)
3 The baseboard ji-ita 地板 of the tokooshi-ita 床押板 (see above).
4 In farmhouses nōka 農家, of the late 17th to mid-18th century in the Kantō 関東 region, in Shizuoka and Yamanashi Prefectures, and in parts of Kyūshū 九州, a shallow built-in recess usually located in the main everyday living room *hiroma 広間. In houses with the three-room hiroma plan hiromagata mimadori 広間型三間取, it was positioned adjacent to the entrance of the sleeping room *nema 寝間, *nando 納戸, to the rear of the master's seat *yokoza 横座. Occasionally it was located in the back wall of the formal reception room *dei 出居 where its use prefigures the later appearance of the true decorative alcove *tokonoma 床の間 in farmhouses. The oshi-ita varied in width from half a bay (90 cm) to a full bay (180 cm). The recess was usually very shallow, the baseboard being no wider than the depth of the posts (about 15 cm), though there are a few examples in Chiba and Ibaraki Prefectures in which the recess is deeper and projects into the sleeping room behind it. The top surface of the baseboard was about 20 cm above the level of the floor on average, and a small storage cupboard *jibukuro 地袋 with sliding doors was sometimes provided beneath it. The back wall was panelled in timber. The precise use of the oshi-ita when first constructed is obscure, but since today protective prayer sheets kitōfuda 祈祷札 are hung there, incense offerings are made to it and the household shrine *kamidana 神棚 is often situated immediately above the oshi-ita, it is virtually certain that it was used for religious rituals and festivals that related to the tutelary deities and dead ancestors of the household. When the four room plan tanojigata 田の字型 began to replace the hiroma type farmhouse from the latter half of the 18th century, the oshi-ita ceased to be constructed. The farmhouse oshi-ita has a number of alternative names, including *teppōdoko 鉄砲床, oshidoko 押床, and simply tokonoma.