Tokonoma, alcove
A tea room's formal tokonoma called hondoko should face south, get light from its right side and be built with the elements in the figure below.
-Toko-bashira, alcove post
-Toko-gamachi, alcove frame (lower)
-Otoshi-gake, alcove frame (upper)
-the floor should be covered with tatami.
If one or more of those elements are missing the alcove is called ryakushiki-toko, informal style alcove, as shown below.
-Kabe-doko, wall-alcove, misses all the elements needed for a hondoko including the tatami floor.
A part of a wall is set up to hang a scroll. Also the wall can have the koshibari paper mounted on it.
-Oribe-doko, Oribe alcove (kabe-doko), is named after the wood board called oribe-ita that is
set on kabe-doko's upper part. The oribe-ita is often used to protect scrolls.
-Oki-doko, placed alcove. When a movable wood board or stand is placed in front of a kabe-doko.
-Tsuri-doko, suspended alcove. It is a kabe-doko with otoshi-gake.
On the other hand if the alcove has all the hondoko's elements but is altered in size or form is called henkei-doko, or modified alcove.
-Fumikomi-doko, 'step in' alcove. The tokonoma's floor level is the same of the room's tatami level.
There is a clear difference between both of them.
-Kekomi-doko. The tokonoma floor has a wooden board that comes out as a stair step.
-Muro-doko, a tokonoma plastered all over including the ceiling.
-Fukuro-doko, a tokonoma with a small wall,sode-kabe, built in one side creating an extra inner
space.
-Hora-doko, 'cave' alcove. A fukuro-doko without the frame post and otoshi-gake. Plaster is used in
place of the wooden frame.
-Ganwari-doko, a hora-doko with sode-kabe, side wall, on both sides.
Tokonoma can be also classified by its width:
-masu-doko, hanjyo tatami size
-daime-doko, daime tatami size
-ikken-doko, maru tatami size
-nana shaku-doko, seven shaku size, tokonoma width between 212-227cm (1 shaku is about 30.3cm)
-hasshaku-doko, eight shaku size, tokonoma width= 272 cm
-kyuushaku-doko, nine shaku size, tokonma width=302 cm