Siheyuan - Shigouin

Japanese: 四合院 - しごういん

Also called sihefang. A Chinese style of house. It is found in a wide area, mainly in northern China, in Jilin, Shaanxi, Henan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and also in the provinces of Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Guangdong, and Yunnan. It is characterized by a plan layout in which four buildings are arranged in the four directions, east-west, north-south, and surrounding a central courtyard. This layout was used not only for houses, but also for palaces and temples from around the 7th century BC. The oldest remains of a typical siheyuan in Beijing date back to the mid-Qing dynasty, but siheyuan buildings in Xiangfen Ting Village and Pingyao City on the west side of the Taihang Mountains in Shanxi Province date back to the Ming dynasty. The names of the four buildings of a siheyuan vary depending on the region and era. In Beijing, the main building on the north side is generally called the "main building" or "dangya," the side buildings facing east and west are called the "(east and west) xiangfang," and the building on the south side is called the "daoza." In large mansions, siheyuan are repeated multiple times along a central axis running north to south to form a deep "yuanluo (group of courtyards)." The overlapping courtyards are counted in "jin," and are called "yijin," "erjin," etc.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

四合房ともいう。中国の住宅形式。中国北方を中心に，吉林，陜西，河南，江蘇，浙江，福建さらに湖南，湖北，四川，広東，雲南の各省に広範に分布している。東西南北に4棟を配して，中央の院子 (中庭) を取囲む平面配置を特徴とする。こうした配置は住宅だけではなく，前7世紀頃の宮殿や廟にも使われていたことがある。典型的な四合院とされる北京城内の遺構は，最も古いもので清朝中期であるが，山西省の太行山脈西側の襄汾丁村や平遙城内にある四合院は明代にまでさかのぼる。四合院の4棟の呼称は，地域や年代によって異なる。北京では一般に北側の主屋 (母屋) を「正房」あるいは「堂屋」，東西に向い合う脇棟を「 (東・西) 廂房」，南側の棟を「倒座」と呼ぶ。大邸宅になると四合院を南北方向の中軸線上に何重にも繰返して，奥行の深い「院落 (中庭群) 」を形成する。中庭の重なりを「進」で数え，「一進」「二進」などと称する。

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