usuniwa 臼庭

1　An alternative term for all or part of the earth-floored area, *doma 土間 or *niwa 庭, in farmhouses nōka 農家 of the Edo period. Called usuniwa (mortar yard), because the mortar or hand mill usu 臼 for pounding rice was often kept and used there. In farmhouses in Mie, Hiroshima, and Shimane Prefectures, usuniwa referred to the front half of the earth-floored area, which was used as an agricultural workspace. On Izu Miyakejima 伊豆三宅島, it is pronounced usunyaa うすにゃあ.

2　Pronounced usunawa うすなわ. An area with a low timber floor situated immediately to the rear of the stable *umaya 馬屋 at the lower end *shimote 下手 of traditional farmhouses of the Hida 飛騨 district, Gifu Prefecture. Principally an agricultural working space, it sometimes had a hearth *irori 囲炉裏 set into the floor, and might also function as a domestic cooking area. In the earliest surviving houses in this district, this area was the doma or *doza 土座. It was referred to as *itaniwa 板庭 when it had a floor.

3　The doma area in the kitchen building, where the cooking range *kamado 竃 was situated. Found in double-ridged farmhouses with a separate kitchen building nakae 中え in parts of Kagoshima Prefecture.