OLD JAPANESE HOUSE, YOSHINO

The renovation of the tea house and the main house was launched at the beginning of June and finished on August 21. The construction company called Rinwa Kensetsu gave me some batches of pictures as progress reports. I’m going to post them of how the tea house was restored. For the cost estimates, please see the previous post . SCAFFOLDINGS AND SUBSTRUCTION REINFORCEMENT The scaffoldings were run up at the end of June. As the tea house stands on the slope of a mountain, scaffolds are necessary for the repair of the roof and the foundation of the house. The wooden foundation had been half-rotten, and so inclined that we weren’t able to open doors smoothly (Doors can open smoothly only when the sash bars keep quadrangle). The company staff fixed the problem. EXTERNAL WALLS The residence zone consisting of two rooms, kitchen, toilet was added about 70 years ago, and my mom lived there about 50 years ago. However, it wasn’t quality work and warped/inclined much faster than the 120-year-o...

Buddhism is one of the two major religions in Japan, though most Japanese are flexible/tolerant about religions and have practiced elements of both of Buddhism and Shinto (Japan's indigenous religion).   A temple called Seson-ji , stands in Oyodo Town, Yoshino, Nara Prefecture on the site of another temple called Hiso-tera . A set of documentary records materials surviving in the temple illustrates how Buddhism arrived and was accepted in Japan in the sixth century. The materials were digitized with high imaging quality and made accessible to the public. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Buddhism arrived in Japan through China and Korea. Before the "official" introduction of Buddhism in the first half of the sixth century, Buddhists including immigrants from China and Korea would have already been practicing in Japan. The "official" introduction of Buddhism to Japan is dated to 552 according to the Chronicles of Japan when King Seong of Baekje (now western Korea) sent a ...

The renovation of the main house and the tea house is going to start this spring. The house has been vacant for 20 years, and the estimated cost to revert to the situation 20 years ago is 6,600,000JPY (approx.60,000USD). It far exceeds the average annual income for 40s in Japan (about 46,500USD), but isn’t extraordinary for renovation of an old vacant house. I’m going to spell out the financial reality of vacant houses. ABANDONED HOUSES IN JAPAN Increasing vacant houses are one of the most pressing social problems in Japan. According to the statistics by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the ratio of vacant houses to the total no. of existing houses in 2018 is 13.6%, growing steadily for more than 50 years (for detailed figures, please see: https://www.stat.go.jp/data/jyutaku/2018/pdf/g_gaiyou.pdf ). The aging society and the excess concentration of population and industry in the Tokyo Metropolitan area are accelerating the trend particularly in rural areas. Vacant Houses Special M...

A tea house called “Geishun-an” was built in the Meiji era by Mr. Sakujiro OKITA (1843-1901) from Oyodo Town. He had a villa  of his family by the Yoshino River, as well as the tea house in the middle of a mountain a discreet distance away. These buildings reveal his dilettantism. I'm going to do a write-up who he is based on some materials. SUMMARY Mr. Sakujiro OKITA was born in 1843 in Yoshino. He was a powerful forester who put a lot of his own money into the modernization of this area. After his hard work toward reestablishing Nara Prefecture as a member of the Osaka prefectural representatives, he participated in the national administration as a member of House of Representatives from 1894 to 1897. He died in 1901 at the age of 58, with a smile, glancing at a single plum flower. He loved Japanese plum trees. A dilettante and heavy drinker, he excelled at calligraphy and public speaking. Stone monument commemorating Sakujiro in Yoshino-jingu Shrine EARLY LIFE AND PERSONALITY ...

The data for the 3D model of our tea house was captured on November 1, 2020. The original motivation is to keep the records of the property as it is, because we can’t afford the full-fledged renovation. However, the realistic data provokes an exciting hunch and inspirations on what we can do by using it.  3D MODELS OF CULTURAL PROPERTIES 3D modeling in the field of cultural treasures has diffused. Some should know Google Arts and Culture. Just to mention an example on how the technology is applied, the service includes “Shuri Castle Digital Reconstruction” project: The old castle in Okinawa prefecture, Japan, supposedly built at the end of the 14th century, was destroyed by a devastating fire in October 2019, then researchers and other stakeholders called on anyone to send photos, videos and memories for a digital reconstruction by building a 3D model of it (for more details, please visit: https://www.our-shurijo.org/en/ ). Besides these cultural heritages sites with high acade...

Nara Machiya Arts Festival HANARART2020 is going on mainly in Imai-cho, Kashihara City, Nara from October 23 to November 9. Imai-cho originally developed as a town inside a temple called Jinaimachi , which is a self-governing community/area by a powerful temple (in this case, Shonenji Temple). And some plots are designated as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Machiya means a traditional townhouse. It takes about 20-25minutes by car from Oyodo Town, where our old house is located.  reconstruction model of Imai-cho HANARART The annual festival started in 2011, celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. The prefectural government of Nara is one of the main organizers. Different cities within the prefecture serve as the festival’s main area every year, and the festival has some satellite venues outside the main areas. Like many other art festivals/projects in Japan, Hanarart ...

As a follow-up to the salvage of the antique paper doors  in the tea house, I got a progress report on the vintage documents hidden inside the paper doors. With the approval of Mr. Matsuda, the author and expert of the town, I’ll post my abridged translation of the report, adding some notes. The progress report: Research on the antique documents contained in the paper doors in the tea house INTRODUCTION A tea house called " Geishun-an"  (*1), which was built in the Meiji era, still stands in Oyodo Town, Yoshino District, Nara Prefecture. Supposedly, Mr. Sakujiro OKITA (1843-1901) from the town built it. The Oyodo Board of Education has been researching a series of documents that had stiffened fusuma (Japanese paper doors) (*2), which were temporarily transferred from the owner of the tea house since July 2020. Among them, 33 documents were examined and the followings are the results. *1) The name translates as a tea house for welcoming spring. *2) According to Wikipedia (...