Row houses were designed to have a doma (a dirt floor space that functions as a foyer and kitchen) directly inside the entrance and two rooms at most, whereas, although the frontage of merchant houses was no wider than approximately 12 to 18 feet, they were usually somewhere around 120 feet deep even in Edo (old Tokyo) where merchant houses were less common than in the Kansai District.
入口を入るとすぐに土間で、そこにせいぜい2部屋がついた長屋とは違い、町屋の間口は2間から3間ほどであったものの、奥行は町屋の普及が関西よりやや低調だった江戸でも20間ぐらいは普通にあったといわれる。