Making the Most of Our Engawa: Embracing Traditional Japanese Living

Engawa, an essential part of old Japanese building design, is often unknown to many people, including me. Today, I want to show you how we’ve brought this special building feature into our daily lives, highlighting its usefulness and appeal.

Before we talk about our personal experience, let me explain what engawa is. It’s a narrow strip of flooring that runs along the edge of traditional Japanese homes, creating a smooth connection between indoor and outdoor spaces, next to sliding doors (shoji) and tatami rooms.

Engawa has many functions.

Transition Space: The engawa creates a smooth connection between the indoors and outdoors, providing a peaceful area for residents to feel close to nature while staying at home.

Connection to Nature: The engawa provides a peaceful spot with wide views of the natural scenery, creating a deep sense of harmony with the natural world.

Purpose: Besides looking nice, the engawa is very useful. It can be used for drying clothes, storing important things, or just relaxing in a peaceful setting.

Japanese Aesthetic: Combining traditional Japanese architecture with elegance, engawa radiates timeless charm, enhancing the beauty of any living space.

So how do we use our engawa?

On the left side of our engawa, there’s a drying rack hidden behind the shoji doors of our tokonoma room (first picture below). When the sun shines on our garden, the engawa soaks up the warmth, working as a natural heating and drying system.

On the other side, our ochanoma, or tea room turned living area, invites us to open the shoji doors and enjoy the view of our garden. Here, in the right hand side of the engawa, a comfortable lounge chair provides a place for casual reading and relaxation. As spring approaches, we plan to move the lounge chair away from the engawa and adding two small armchairs with a small side table, creating a cozy area for drinking tea, appreciating our garden with the sliding window doors wide open.

Living in a traditional Japanese home is quite different from Western homes. Every day, I feel more connected to it. The design and nature of the engawa encourages us to enjoy traditional Japanese home living.