SHITOMIDO

Latticed Shutters

These are a very primitive kind of shutter that can be closed at night. During the daytime they can be opened up to let sunlight into the interior. The top end of the shutter has a metal hook attached, which can be then attached to the eaves to keep the shutters up. Nowadays, very few machiya have them, and the presence of a shitomido indicates that the machiya was most likely built between the Edo and Meiji periods.