Entranceway

Last month I described two teahouses, one by Terunobu Fujimori (30-10-2011) and the other by students of the art academy (31-10-2011), where you had to crawl through a low entrance door to get in. It felt rather uncomfortable and a bit like a joke.

But lately I had a discussion at the Kohrin-in temple, where we visited the teahouse in the garden of the temple complex. There where two entrances: one with sliding doors and one low, small one.
I thought the lower one would be for the servants, to bring the tea and to express the difference in rank. It was just the opposite way. The low entranceway (nijiriguchi) was for the guests, to show their humility and social equality.

Than I saw the nice path with stones coming from the temple and heading to the small entranceway of the teahouse.

Kohrin-in teahouse