"The tradition of urban housing for the urban poor, wooden sheds or 'longhouses' (nagaya) commonly occupied the rear portion of the deep lots. The landowner would often manage and live above a shop fronting the street, while their employees, or poor artisans lived in the rear areas accessed by a narrow covered lane from the street."

From: Sorensen, Andre. The Making of Urban Japan: Cities and planning from Edo to the twenty-first century. New York: Routledge, 2002; 95.