• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
• /
• v.29 no.1
• /
• pp.3-15
• /
• 1994

The purpose of this study is to investigate the origin of traditional folkhouses of Japan in connection with those of Korea. Japanese folkhouses have received much influence from the Korean Peninsular, mainland China, northern Asia and Southeast Asia. The writer believes that the main stream of folkhouse culture origineted in the Korean Peninsular and flowed into the Japanese Islands. There ara many striking similarities in the folkhouses of Korea and Japan. Firstly, double-row room houses are distributed in the northeastern part of the Korean Penininsular and all parts of the Japanese Islands, and they are classified into the five-room type and four-room type. These types are very similar in both nations in the aspects of and floorplan and distributing patterns. Because floorplan may be used as an indicator of culture regions and cultural diffusion both, nations are believed to be closely related in the interchange of cultures in ancient times. Secondly, stables are allocated to the main house, and they are called "magu" in common "Magu" means horse stable, but there are no horses in it. In ancient times, however, many horses were kept in "magu" in both countries. Thirdly, there are much similarities in the function and structure of the folkhouses of both countries. The characteristics of folkhouses of Japan could be explained as the result of cultural diffusion from the Korean Peninsular.on from the Korean Peninsular.