Okinawa’s private house [Nuchijiya]

There are two basic structural styles for Okinawa’s private houses. One is a type of shack, known as [Anaya], and the other is a type of wooden building called [Nuchijiya]. The house of jitude is a [Nuchijiya] style building with a tiled roof.

This structure is comprised of several parts; a pillar on a foundation stone, an ashigatame (a crossbar fitted between pillars under the floor), a nuki (a crossbar fed through the pillar and wedged) and a keta (a crossbar positioned on top of the pillar and extending toward the tower to support it). All of these are strengthened with frameworks, joints, and dowels.

An extending eaves supported by [Amahaji] pillars at a 90cm-1.2m distance from a room prevents strong wind and heavy rain.

Raising the floor level helps prevent rot of the wood at the lowest part of the building, even under difficult climate conditions such as high temperature and humidity.