Machiya
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Template:Nihongo are traditional wooden townhouses found throughout Japan and typified in the historical capital of Kyoto. Template:Transliteration ('townhouses') and Template:Transliteration ('farm dwellings') constitute the two categories of Japanese vernacular architecture known as Template:Transliteration ('folk dwellings').
Template:Transliteration originated as early as the Heian period and continued to develop through to the Edo period and even into the Meiji period. Template:Transliteration housed urban merchants and craftsmen, a class collectively referred to as Template:Transliteration ('townspeople').
The word Template:Transliteration is written using two kanji: Template:Nihongo3 and Template:Nihongo3 or Template:Nihongo3, depending on the kanji used to express it.
Template:TransliterationEdit
Template:Transliteration in Kyoto, sometimes called Template:Nihongo, formed the defining characteristic of downtown Kyoto architecture for centuries,<ref name=saisei10>Kyoto Center for Community Collaboration (京都市景観・まちづくりセンター)(eds.) Machiya Revival in Kyoto (京町家の再生). Kyoto: Kyoto Center for Community Collaboration, 2008. p10.</ref> representing the standard defining form of the Template:Transliteration throughout the country.
The typical Kyoto Template:Transliteration is a long wooden home with narrow street frontage, stretching deep into the city block and often containing one or more small courtyard gardens, known as Template:Transliteration. Template:Transliteration incorporate earthen walls and baked tile roofs, and are typically one, one and a half or two stories high, occasionally stretching to three stories.<ref name=saisei10/> The front of the building traditionally served as the retail or shop space, known as Template:Nihongo3, typically having sliding or folding shutters that could open to display goods and wares. The plot's width was traditionally an index of wealth, and typical Template:Transliteration plots would be just Template:Convert wide but Template:Convert deep, leading to the nickname Template:Transliteration, or 'eel beds'.
Behind the shop space, the remainder of the main building would be divided into the Template:Nihongo3, composed of divided rooms with raised timber floors and tatami mats coverings. Template:Transliteration would also feature a Template:Nihongo or Template:Nihongo, an unfloored earthen service space that contained the kitchen, also serving as the passage to the rear of the plot, where storehouses known as Template:Nihongo would be found.
A Template:Nihongo above the kitchen would serve as a chimney, carrying smoke and heat away, and also serve as a skylight, bringing light into the kitchen.<ref>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. p18.</ref>
The largest residential room in a Template:Transliteration, located in the rear of the main building and looking out over the garden which separated the main house from the storehouse, was known as the Template:Nihongo, and doubled as a reception room for special guests or clients.<ref>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. p16.</ref> The sliding doors which made up the walls in a Template:Transliteration, as in most traditional Japanese buildings, provided a great degree of versatility; doors could be opened and closed or removed entirely to alter the number, size, and shape of rooms to suit the needs of the moment. Typically, however, the remainder of the building might be arranged to create smaller rooms, including an entrance hall or foyer (Template:Nihongo), Template:Nihongo,Template:Efn Template:Nihongo and Template:Nihongo, both of which mean simply 'central room'.<ref>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. p11.</ref>
One occasion when rooms would be altered significantly is during the Gion Matsuri, when families would display their family treasures, including Template:Transliteration (folding screen) paintings and other artworks and heirlooms in the Template:Transliteration.<ref>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. p37.</ref> Template:Transliteration also provided space for costumes, decorations, portable shrines (Template:Nihongo), floats, and other things needed for the festival, as well as hosting spectators along the festival's parade route.
The design of a Template:Transliteration was also well-suited for the climate of Kyoto; with cold winters and often exceedingly-hot, humid summers, multiple layers of sliding doors (Template:Transliteration and Template:Transliteration) could be added or removed to moderate the temperature inside; closing all the screens in the winter would offer some protection from the cold, while opening them all in the summer offered some respite from the heat and humidity.
Template:Transliteration homes traditionally also made use of different types of screens which would be changed with the seasons; woven bamboo screens used in summer allowed air to flow through, but helped to block the sun.<ref>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. pp13,16.</ref> The open air garden courtyards likewise aided in air circulation and brought light into the house.<ref>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. p14.</ref>
Design elementsEdit
Template:Commonscat The front of a Template:Transliteration features wooden lattices, or Template:Nihongo, the styles of which were once indicative of the type of shop the Template:Transliteration held. Silk or thread shops, rice sellers, Template:Transliteration (geisha houses), and liquor stores, among others, each had their own distinctive style of latticework. The types or styles of latticework are still today known by names using shop types, such as Template:Nihongo3 or Template:Nihongo3.<ref>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. p22.</ref> These lattices sometimes jut out from the front of the building, in which case they are known as Template:Nihongo.<ref name=saisei32>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. p32.</ref> Normally unpainted, the Template:Transliteration of Template:Transliteration (geisha and Template:Transliteration communities) were frequently painted in Template:Nihongo, a vermillion or red ochre color.
The façade of the second story of a Template:Transliteration is generally not made of wood, but of earthwork, with a distinctive style of window known as Template:Nihongo3.<ref name=saisei32/>
The main entrance into a Template:Transliteration consists of two doors. The Template:Nihongo3 was generally used only to transport goods, or large objects, into the building, while the smaller Template:Nihongo, or 'side door', was for normal, everyday use, i.e. for people to enter and exit.
Template:Transliteration often contain small courtyard gardens.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
CommunityEdit
Template:Transliteration communities can be compared to the Template:Transliterations of Beijing. Small neighborhoods made up of closely grouped homes organized on both sides of a narrow street, sometimes with small alleyways (Template:Nihongo) in between the homes, help to create a strong sense of community. In addition, many areas were traditionally defined by a single craft or product. The Nishijin neighborhood, for example, is famous for its textiles; sharing a craft contributed greatly to a sense of community among fellow textile merchants in this area.<ref>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. pp24, 27.</ref>
DestructionEdit
Template:Transliteration, despite their status as part of Japan's cultural heritage, have undergone rapid decline in numbers in recent decades, with many being demolished in order to provide space for new buildings. Many reasons for this decline exist; Template:Transliteration are considered to be difficult and expensive to maintain, are subject to greater risk of damage from fires or earthquakes than modern buildings, and are considered old-fashioned and outdated by some. In a survey conducted in 2003, over 50% of Template:Transliteration residents noted that it is financially difficult to maintain a Template:Transliteration.<ref name=saisei4243>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. pp 42–43.</ref>
Between 1993 and 2003, over 13% of the Template:Transliteration in Kyoto were demolished. Roughly forty percent of those demolished were replaced with new modern houses, and another 40% were replaced with high-rise apartment buildings, parking lots, or modern-style commercial shops<ref name=saisei4243/> Of those Template:Transliteration remaining, over 80% have suffered significant losses to the traditional appearance of their façades. Roughly 20% of Kyoto's Template:Transliteration have been altered in a process called Template:Nihongo, retaining the basic shape of a Template:Transliteration, but their façades have been completely covered over in cement, which replaces the wooden lattices of the first story and Template:Transliteration windows and earthwork walls of the second story. Many of these Template:Transliteration have also lost their tile roofs, becoming more boxed-out in shape; many have also had aluminum or steel shutters installed, as are commonly seen in small urban shops around the world.<ref name=saisei4243/>
In response to the decline in Template:Transliteration numbers, however, some groups have formed with the express aim of restoring and protecting the Template:Transliteration found in Kyoto. One such institution, the Template:Transliteration Fund,Template:Efn was established in 2005 with the backing of a Tokyo-based benefactor. The group works alongside individual Template:Transliteration owners to restore their buildings and to have them designated as Template:Nihongo;Template:Efn under this designation, the structures are protected from demolition without the permission of the mayor of Kyoto, and a stipend is provided by the city government to the owners of the Template:Transliteration to help support the upkeep of the building. Many of these restored buildings serve, at least in part, as community centers.<ref>Machiya Revival in Kyoto. pp 56–57.</ref>
Iori, a company founded by art collector, writer, and cultural activist Alex Kerr in 2004 to save old Template:Transliteration, owns a number of Template:Transliteration which it restored, maintains, and rents to travelers. The company's main office, itself located in a Template:Transliteration, houses a traditional arts practice space, including a full-size Noh stage.<ref>Kerr, Alex. "Iori Template:Webarchive." Alex-Kerr.com. Accessed 19 November 2008.</ref>
ExamplesEdit
There are many Template:Transliteration remaining in Kyoto. Many are private residences, while others operating as businesses, notably cafes, and a few are museums. The largest Template:Transliteration in Kyoto is Sumiya in Shimabara, the traditional Template:Nihongo3 of Kyoto.
See alsoEdit
NotesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
- Virtual Tour of a Kyoto Machiya at the Boston Children's Museum (which shipped it from Japan).
- Kyoto Machiya Resource
- Living in Machiya
- Traditional Kyoto architecture
- Sugimoto Residence -- A Kyoto Machiya
- Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System: Machiya
- JNTO site -- Kyoto Machiya
- Japan Visitor -- Kyoto Townhouses
- The Herbert Offen Research Collection of the Phillips Library at the Peabody Essex Museum, and important research collection in regards to Machiya
Template:Sister project Template:Japanese architectural elements