Until recently, most Japanese houses had been one-story or two-story wooden buildings (using the wood frame-based building method or traditional building method) centered on tatami mat-using rooms (Washitsu (Japanese-style rooms)).
日本の住宅は近年までほとんどが木造建築（木造軸組構法、在来工法）の平屋か2階建で、畳のある部屋（和室）を中心に造られてきた。