Thursday, July 5, 2007: Tour of a Japanese Machiya
On Thursday, after having Japanese class for a super-short time (only an hour!), I was off with group #1 to take a tour of a restored machiya. A machiya (lit. city house, or city shop, depending on the kanji used) is the traditional kind of home built in Japanese cities 100 years ago. These structures are thin and very long, because taxes used to be charged based upon how much street space your home took up. Store fronts were a valuable commodity, so merchants would build their homes with rooms for their wares in front, and then a series of rooms further back inside the home would be for the family. It is said, the better you knew a merchant, the further he would let you come inside his home.
Because these homes are built right alongside neighboring machiya, they do not really have any windows. Instead there may be a courtyard or two, and otherwise the structure is designed to allow air to flow through the long hallways that run the length of the house. Machiya are actually said to be very good at keeping themselves cool in the summer because so much emphasis has been put on allowing air to flow through the structure.
The narrowness of machiya also happened because more and more people wanted to squeeze in and they needed street space for their storefront, but they still needed enough room in their dwelling to live in.
The machiya we were lucky enough to visit has been restored by a New York architect. He did some work for a man living in Kyoto who owns a lumber mill, and the man also owns several machiya around the mill. The Japanese man lets the architect live in one of his machiya, and has let him restore the home and do anything he wants with it, it's just that he's not actually quite ready to sell it.
This place was just incredible, as you will see through the following images and videos.
Between the videos and the audio, you can take this tour of a machiya with me and learn quite a bit. There's quite a bit of media to play through, but I encourage you to, because it's totally worth it!
On our way to Kyoto, we passed through Umeda train station in Osaka.
We stopped here for lunch in the food court.
I ate a little boxed obento from a deli inside of the food court because it looked like the best value for my money. It was delicious, of course.
There were a few things I wasn't quite sure as to what they were... and when no one else had any idea, I just shrugged and popped it into my mouth. Peoples' eyes bugged out in shock that I would just put some unknown thing in my mouth. Hahahaha.
After lunch we met up again so that we could get on the next train.
After a long ride, we arrived in Kyoto.
Just after we got off of the train, we crossed a river who seemed to be guarded by this guy:
but... maybe he was just greeting us. :-)
After a little bit more of a walk, we arrived at the machiya.
It was a hot day, and our host was not there yet, so we waited in some shade across the street and I ran over to a vending machine for a cold drink. I had a berry-apple soda, and it was interesting.
While we continued to wait, I took my photo with the machiya.
I thought it looked really lousy on the outside, and kinda dingy, but it was just amazing inside.
Then again, Japanese houses aren't generally built to be particularly pretty on the outside. Temples are, but not so much for houses.
Finally our host arrived. The resident of the machiya was busy for the day, so his architect friend who lived in a machiya down the street came over to give us the tour. He was Canadian, and just an absolutely huge man!
As we entered the front doors, we walked into the genkan, an entryway paved with gravel and stone and with several pretty trees planted around.
We stepped over to the entrance of the actual home and slipped off our shoes, leaving them next to this cute display:
Next we stepped up into the front entry room, which had tatami floor and a pretty tokunoma in the corner.
The tokunoma is a formal, traditional display in Japanese homes that varries by the season. Each has a scroll and a flower arrangement and is slightly elevated from the floor. The tokunoma is something which originated with tea ceremony. You can learn a little more about it in the videos.
We deposited our bags in this room and stepped back further into the home to sit down for a bit of introductory presentation to machiya and this machiya in particular.
These first two files total about 12 minutes, but they are totally worth it.
Part 1:
Part 2:
As you may have heard in the audio, it was at this point that we began to tour around the home a little bit.
First we went out towards the rear of the home, to see the interior garden (which was just beautiful), the toire (toilet), and the ofuro (tub room).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btmt-mvVfJc
And here's Sarah (one of our Australian girls) sitting in a really neat, old, bamboo lounge chair overlooking the garden:
http://www.youtube.com/v/zlsZz6V8_Js
And, I just think he had the coolest ofuro ever:
If you watched the video (watch it!), you will learn the history of this tub and how he got his hands on it.
From there, we checked out the kitchen, dining room, and front tokunoma.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGhD_apMv4Y
Yes, at the end of the video one of the Australian girls breaks out laughing because our Canadian tour guide said "Eh?"
I LOVED the kitchen!
After that we went upstairs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9HCSBOk7Q
I just thought this doorway into his study was interesting... albiet very low. I can't remember if I had to duck to pass through it, but our guide certainly did!
His office... possibly one of the coolest rooms in the house (not temperature-wise of course!)
I just loved all of the screening and the neat windows in here.
And as you may have heard me say in reply to the window shades in this room (and the bedroom too), they are the same kind I have in my home, and they ARE nice shades!
Here's a closeup of some of those extra doors he had stowed:
Plus a really neat old dresser.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYbLsdqwkO8
As you saw in the video (watch it!), this is a western take on Japanese futon... raising the tatami floor to make it a little more like a western bed and all. I thought it was an interesting idea.
Neat antique lamp is his bedroom:
And I just LOVED the panelled wood ceilings, so beautiful!
Good ol' crowded japan! No one has a yard, they all just have those little courtyard things within their homes.
The lumber mill is just behind and to the left here, but you can't see it in this photo. (But you can see some in the video!)
Now that we've toured the house, we returned downstairs and watched a video about this machiya. It was from a BBC program, that I can't remember the name of (otherwise MAYBE I could get a copy of the video). It was really neat to see shots of the home from a different season, and it was full of even more information about the house.
I recorded audio of the video, which was often paused and added to. This next bit is about 30 minutes long altogether, but totally worth it!
This first file includes a little bit about tatami and some random chat while he tries to get his computer set up to play the video. Some of it is interesting and some of it is boring. If you download the file, you can skip around if you'd like.
Here is the recording of the video, along with extras added in by our tourguide. (20 minutes long)
And... well, that was it!
The second group was now there, so we greeted them and then headed out and back to the train.... and back to campus.
I forget what I did that evening to be sure. It was nothing exciting, I probably spent some time in the computer lab while I waited for Satoka.
Because these homes are built right alongside neighboring machiya, they do not really have any windows. Instead there may be a courtyard or two, and otherwise the structure is designed to allow air to flow through the long hallways that run the length of the house. Machiya are actually said to be very good at keeping themselves cool in the summer because so much emphasis has been put on allowing air to flow through the structure.
The narrowness of machiya also happened because more and more people wanted to squeeze in and they needed street space for their storefront, but they still needed enough room in their dwelling to live in.
The machiya we were lucky enough to visit has been restored by a New York architect. He did some work for a man living in Kyoto who owns a lumber mill, and the man also owns several machiya around the mill. The Japanese man lets the architect live in one of his machiya, and has let him restore the home and do anything he wants with it, it's just that he's not actually quite ready to sell it.
This place was just incredible, as you will see through the following images and videos.
Between the videos and the audio, you can take this tour of a machiya with me and learn quite a bit. There's quite a bit of media to play through, but I encourage you to, because it's totally worth it!
On our way to Kyoto, we passed through Umeda train station in Osaka.
We stopped here for lunch in the food court.
I ate a little boxed obento from a deli inside of the food court because it looked like the best value for my money. It was delicious, of course.
There were a few things I wasn't quite sure as to what they were... and when no one else had any idea, I just shrugged and popped it into my mouth. Peoples' eyes bugged out in shock that I would just put some unknown thing in my mouth. Hahahaha.
After lunch we met up again so that we could get on the next train.
After a long ride, we arrived in Kyoto.
Just after we got off of the train, we crossed a river who seemed to be guarded by this guy:
but... maybe he was just greeting us. :-)
After a little bit more of a walk, we arrived at the machiya.
It was a hot day, and our host was not there yet, so we waited in some shade across the street and I ran over to a vending machine for a cold drink. I had a berry-apple soda, and it was interesting.
While we continued to wait, I took my photo with the machiya.
I thought it looked really lousy on the outside, and kinda dingy, but it was just amazing inside.
Then again, Japanese houses aren't generally built to be particularly pretty on the outside. Temples are, but not so much for houses.
Finally our host arrived. The resident of the machiya was busy for the day, so his architect friend who lived in a machiya down the street came over to give us the tour. He was Canadian, and just an absolutely huge man!
As we entered the front doors, we walked into the genkan, an entryway paved with gravel and stone and with several pretty trees planted around.
We stepped over to the entrance of the actual home and slipped off our shoes, leaving them next to this cute display:
Next we stepped up into the front entry room, which had tatami floor and a pretty tokunoma in the corner.
The tokunoma is a formal, traditional display in Japanese homes that varries by the season. Each has a scroll and a flower arrangement and is slightly elevated from the floor. The tokunoma is something which originated with tea ceremony. You can learn a little more about it in the videos.
We deposited our bags in this room and stepped back further into the home to sit down for a bit of introductory presentation to machiya and this machiya in particular.
These first two files total about 12 minutes, but they are totally worth it.
Part 1:
Part 2:
As you may have heard in the audio, it was at this point that we began to tour around the home a little bit.
First we went out towards the rear of the home, to see the interior garden (which was just beautiful), the toire (toilet), and the ofuro (tub room).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Btmt-mvVfJc
And here's Sarah (one of our Australian girls) sitting in a really neat, old, bamboo lounge chair overlooking the garden:
http://www.youtube.com/v/zlsZz6V8_Js
And, I just think he had the coolest ofuro ever:
If you watched the video (watch it!), you will learn the history of this tub and how he got his hands on it.
From there, we checked out the kitchen, dining room, and front tokunoma.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGhD_apMv4Y
Yes, at the end of the video one of the Australian girls breaks out laughing because our Canadian tour guide said "Eh?"
I LOVED the kitchen!
After that we went upstairs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF9HCSBOk7Q
I just thought this doorway into his study was interesting... albiet very low. I can't remember if I had to duck to pass through it, but our guide certainly did!
His office... possibly one of the coolest rooms in the house (not temperature-wise of course!)
I just loved all of the screening and the neat windows in here.
And as you may have heard me say in reply to the window shades in this room (and the bedroom too), they are the same kind I have in my home, and they ARE nice shades!
Here's a closeup of some of those extra doors he had stowed:
Plus a really neat old dresser.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYbLsdqwkO8
As you saw in the video (watch it!), this is a western take on Japanese futon... raising the tatami floor to make it a little more like a western bed and all. I thought it was an interesting idea.
Neat antique lamp is his bedroom:
And I just LOVED the panelled wood ceilings, so beautiful!
Good ol' crowded japan! No one has a yard, they all just have those little courtyard things within their homes.
The lumber mill is just behind and to the left here, but you can't see it in this photo. (But you can see some in the video!)
Now that we've toured the house, we returned downstairs and watched a video about this machiya. It was from a BBC program, that I can't remember the name of (otherwise MAYBE I could get a copy of the video). It was really neat to see shots of the home from a different season, and it was full of even more information about the house.
I recorded audio of the video, which was often paused and added to. This next bit is about 30 minutes long altogether, but totally worth it!
This first file includes a little bit about tatami and some random chat while he tries to get his computer set up to play the video. Some of it is interesting and some of it is boring. If you download the file, you can skip around if you'd like.
Here is the recording of the video, along with extras added in by our tourguide. (20 minutes long)
And... well, that was it!
The second group was now there, so we greeted them and then headed out and back to the train.... and back to campus.
I forget what I did that evening to be sure. It was nothing exciting, I probably spent some time in the computer lab while I waited for Satoka.