toko-bashira 床柱

Also called nihon-bashira 二本柱, because originally both the pillars to the left and right of the alcove *tokonoma 床の間, were considered as central pillars.

The pillar closest to the center of the tea ceremony room *chashitsu 茶室, and the second of two pillars dictate the width of the alcove. As in formal shoin style *shoin-zukuri 書院造 tea ceremony rooms, toko-bashira are chamfered. They are made of cypress or rarer woods. In semi-formal rustic type tea ceremony rooms, pine, maple, mulberry, sandalwood, and ebony are employed. In the simplest, most unpretentious style tea ceremony rooms, polished logs of Japanese cedar, chestnut, bamboo, and other unusual kinds of timber are used. The diary Matsuo nikki 松尾日記 (mid-19th century) states that the alcove post which retained the bark was first used by Furuta Oribe 古田織部 (1544-1615). Even material from old historical buildings was sometimes used. Since the alcove pillar is an important part of the interior design, in *sukiya 数奇屋 style tea houses it occasionally bears the marks of having been scraped by an adze to give it a rough finish. Chamfered posts were used to produce a dignified appearance in *shoin 書院 rooms. There are many extant examples of alcove pillars in tea ceremony rooms dating from the late 16th to early 17th century that were made of chestnut wood with an adze finish.