Oh, if you want to see all 20 pics, click on 'Show All' at the top of the yellow album box. Then, when you open up each pic, look right, and click View>Original Size, to enlarge the image.

I don't know what a Japanese person would call it but this Missourian calls a great space.

Here in Mo. it would need a standing seam copper roof and skeeter screening.

Way too cool.

aye, that is a beautiful space. My client is a tai-chi master, and he asked for an outdoor dojo area at his home, where he can practice and teach.

Gets pretty hot here in San Diego in the summer !

So George, what do you think is the proper name for this structure ? Is Yama san around .. I wonder what he would call it.

George, I think it's spelled with a z. I just tried a search for asumaya and only came up with your website. Search for azumaya and you get all kinds of hits.

You know, I'm really wondering if this is the correct word for an outdoor structure like this.

In my Japanese/English dictionary,
Azumaya=Arbor, Summerhouse, a bower, a kiosk.

Joe, you are right about calling it Azumaya.

There are no such thing called ASUMAYA.
Kiki

Thanks Kiki ! Arbor, Summerhouse, a bower, a kiosk is close enough for me, unless someone really has a better name.

George! you have a wondeful garden, and can call your asumaya whatever you want to I'd say !

I am taught the azumaya is a place to sit and contemplate before being invited into the tea ceremony proper, and a place to rest between the acts of the ceremony. It can take many shapes. One of the most famous azumayas is that at Katsura Rikyu in Kyoto.

Even in Japan, Romaji spellings of the Japanese words vary from place to place and person to person - even the experts!

HI Joe,
There are a few things about this structure and an Azumaya that differ. Probably due to use and location. In Japan's rainy climate, the roof would be solid; and the Azumaya is used for sitting so their would be benches on at least two of the sides. It would also be, like most Japanese buildings, raised above the ground plane by at least one riser. They come from Chinese garden structures, especially the "ting", or, what I prefer to call in English, "gazebo".

So this is a structure you probably would not see in Japan, and a Japnese gardener might not know quite what to call it. But for the lack of another word, azumaya might just be it!

Many tea houses have an accessory building where guests wait before going into the inner garden and the tea house proper: but, it is called "o-machiaishitsu": "o" for honorific, "waiting room", although it would be open on at least one of its long dimentions.

Azumaya indeed could be used by guests as a place to head for and streach their legs in between aspects of Tea.

Azumaya it is then ! Thanks everyone for the advice.

Here is another one I've designed but not built yet. This one has a (curved) solid roof, but I've shown it here as transparent.

I guess I'll just call all of them azumayas then.

Remember to look right (after opening each pic) and click View>Original Size.

Here is a link that might be useful: 4 1/2 mat Azumaya