What are Sunoko?

Having no shame, I occasionally write posts which beg further explanation: mentioning some uncommon Japanese item without description; making leading or suggestive statements; and so on. Regrettably, these ploys rarely net participation, and I just have to rely on my writing to captivate readers. (Troublesome to be sure.) Late last year, I made mention of sunoko (簀の子) as if it were something any person would commonly know. Either everyone knew or – the more likely case – nobody worried about such a detailed point of that post.

For those of you who might want to know, sunoko are starring in today’s post; no longer relegated to being an item on a list. Hooray for sunoko! First, how do you write sunoko? I used kanji above, but since ‘su’ is a non-standard character, it is far more common to see the word spelled out: sometimes in hiragana – すのこ; sometimes in katakana – スノコ.

Next, what is a sunoko? Take a look at the photo. Typically they are made from two or more sticks which act as pegs/feet with several slats of wood fastened across the top, 90 degrees to the pegs. Ample gaps should be left between the slats, because their main use is to lift some thing, off of some surface, allowing air to flow underneath.

For the photo I laid several sizes out on my tatami floors. Please note that they should never be used on the mats. Typically we don’t even wear slippers into a Japanese style room in order to protect the woven grass surface. Also note that there are two in each package – one face up and one face down – so you can see two sets of pegs here.

My main use for sunoko is to allow air flow under bedding in the closets (押入). In this photo you can see my futon, quilts, blankets, comforters, and pillows sitting on a sunoko. If futon are folded in thirds, they fit nicely in a standard Japanese closet. Just a little aside, but don’t you think my pillows are cute?

Summertime can be incredibly hot in Japan and I am cheap, so I don’t like to run the air conditioner if I can avoid it. High temperatures in my classroom are problematic for my laptop, which has cooling problems. I put a small sunoko under the computer to facilitate cooling. This is working out pretty well.

At traditional hotels we can often find very long, narrow sunoko in the entry (玄関) for placing our street shoes before stepping up to the main floor. Be careful though, many places provide a similar set-up for changing into slippers. In that case you wouldn’t put your street shoes on the sunoko. Occasionally they can have very tall pegs to help diminish the strain of getting from a very low entry to a fairly high floor. In this case it might be more elegant to use a large stone as the intermediate step.

Rubberized or plastic sunoko are also used in bathrooms. They conduct heat slower than tiles; keeping your feet warmer. And they allow water to drain away and air to move through. Some are designed to be slip-resistant as well. Basically, anytime you want to lift something you can use sunoko.

My dictionary seems to indicate that very old sunoko were made by lashing bamboo slats, but kiri (桐 paulownia) is a very popular material. I believe it has aromatic qualities, like cedar, which are beneficial in closets. Additionally it is lightweight and strong. High-quality geta (下駄), wooden sandals, are also made from kiri.