路地　研究　谷根千

露地(ろじ）outdoors, the bare ground,
The entrance garden、garden outside the 茶室　（ちゃしつ), the tea ceremony house, is called roji (露地).
Originally 露地 (ろじ） was written 路次 or 路地 indicating a "path through which one passes" on the way to the chashitsu, and it was usually an empty space - neither planned nor conceived as a garden…
http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/r/roji.htm

路地 （ろじ）alley; alleyway; lane;
Literally it refers to a plot of land which is not covered by a roof, and signifies a narrow alley between one house and another or a narrow pathway within the ground of a large residence. First used to describe the pathway leading to the teahouse, it apparently came to be called roji. Sen-no-Rikyu defined roji as the “the outside path in the mundane world” of 茶の湯　（ちゃのゆ）,tea ceremony from the world of the mundane.
http://www.ryokan.or.jp/english/pdf/glossary_of_terms.pdf