About “Shitsurai”
The Japanese calendar is divided into four distinct seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Seasonal variations are incorporated into many aspects of everyday life, and interior furnishings are changed to match various special events throughout the year, such as New Year, seasonal celebrations, and the Bon midsummer festival.
During the Heian Period (794-1185/1192), this practice of matching furnishings to the seasons became known as “Shitsurai”. Rather than being concerned with external appearances alone, Shitsurai expressed a spiritual outlook encompassing respect for one’s ancestors, hospitality towards guests, concern for one’s family, and religious awe.
Thus, Shitsurai is not simply a matter of following certain conventions of interior decoration. At the core of the concept is a distinct frame of mind, expressed, for example, in the practice of placing a single stem of Japanese silver grass (a symbol of autumn) at the entrance of one’s home to welcome guests with a sense of the season.
Behind tobi’s promotion of the “New Tokyo Living Style” is the aim of rekindling the spirit of Shitsurai, which evolved in the context of the traditional Japanese style of sitting directly on the floor or tatami mats, and applying it to contemporary living patterns.