Townhouse (machiya) - Machiya

Japanese: 町家(町屋) - まちや

Among private houses, those built on sites that form towns or streetscapes such as castle towns are collectively called machiya (town houses). Usually, a shop with sliding doors faces the road, there is an earthen floor on one side that leads to the backyard, and a large door with a hidden door at the entrance, but many houses also have lattices on the front side to prevent people from seeing in from the outside, as a precaution. Most machiya have a main building ridge that runs parallel to the street (hirairi), a double roof and eaves, and a low second floor used for storage, but there are also tsumairi types where the ridge runs perpendicular to the street and a triangular gable is visible on the street side.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

民家のうち，城下町などの町や町並みを形成している敷地に建てられたものを総称して町家(屋)と呼ぶ。通常，道路に面して蔀戸（しとみど）形式の建具を備えた店を開き，片側に裏庭まで通じる土間を設け，入口には潜戸（くぐりど）付きの大戸を設けるが，表側に格子をはめこんで外からの見通しを避け，用心を固めた家も少なくない。町家はふつう主屋の棟を街路と平行に通し(平入り)，主屋の屋根と庇（ひさし）を二重に出し，物置に使われる低い二階を備えている形式が多いが，棟を街路と直角に通し，街路側に三角の破風が見える妻入り（つまいり）型のものもある。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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