usuya 臼屋

1　A small-scale freestanding structure containing a mortar or hand mill, usu 臼, for pounding rice. Perhaps the earliest such structures to be recorded were the usuya of the *Daijōkyū 大嘗宮, the temporary complex erected in connection with the imperial investiture ceremonies marking the beginning of a new emperor's reign. According to descriptions dating from the Jōgan 貞観 era (859-77), they were a pair of thatched buildings, 3 bays by 1 bay, one each in the northern part of the service compounds of the Sukiin 主基院 and the Yukiin 悠基院. Usuya were a common type of ancillary structure associated with farmhouses nōka 農家. From the late Edo period, usuya were often built adjacent to a stream, and a water wheel suisha 水車 was used to power the usu.

2　In the vernacular houses *minka 民家 of Hachijōjima 八丈島, a freestanding structure separate from the main house, which functioned as a kitchen *suijiba 炊事場, in addition to housing a hand mill.

3　In minka in Shizuoka and Gifu Prefectures, a part of the earth-floored area *doma 土間, so-called because the mortar or hand mill usu was installed there.

4　An alternative term for *usuniwa 臼庭.