Japanese farmhouse returns

KAMAKURA, JAPAN

Anybody who thinks all Japanese live in cramped quarters should take a look at architect Yoshihiro Takishita’s home.

The peaked roof shelters four floors. Massive rough-hewn dark wood beams — fitted together without nails — frame the expansive living and dining area. A series of sliding glass doors open to a veranda overlooking the hills and coastline of Kamakura.

For Mr. Takishita, his farmhouse is more than just a home. It’s also a labor of love: He is one of a growing number of architects and conservationists who are trying to salvage centuries-old Japanese “minka” farmhouses and bring them into the 21st century.

“A lot of wisdom, good thinking and good materials went into making these homes,” says Mr. Takishita, who found his house in central Japan’s Gifu prefecture, disassembled it and then restored it on the hills over Sagami Bay, south of Tokyo, in 1976.

“There is a beauty and value to traditional architecture that we can take advantage of even today,” he notes.

These spacious structures once graced the mountain-studded, rice-paddy-filled countryside, their grass-thatch roofs and dark brown and whitewashed exteriors blending gently with the bucolic surroundings.

Then came the 20th century, when many Japanese abandoned their rural roots in a fevered rush to modernize, crowding into cramped apartments that clotted the country’s burgeoning cities. Modern homes are built to last just about 30 years.

Now the sturdy, elegant minka farmhouse is making a comeback.

“The strong economy stirred pride in Japan’s cultural accomplishments,” says Geerta Mehta, an architectural historian at Temple University Japan. “It also meant people had a lot of money, which always helps when it comes to doing renovations.”

The result has been a steady rise since the early 1990s in interest in traditional living and the homes in which to do it.

The Tokyo-based Japanese Minka Recycle and Reuse Association (JMRA), a volunteer group, was started in 1997 and has logged at least 35 restoration projects since then. The group lists about 105 companies and individuals around the country as restoration specialists.

Mr. Takishita, who is not affiliated with the JMRA, has himself worked on 30 minka projects since completing his first in 1967.

Interest in minka was boosted in 1995 when the United Nations named two Japanese mountain towns — Shirakawa-go and Gokayama — World Heritage Sites because of their well-preserved farmhouses. Renovated farmhouses fill lavishly illustrated magazines and books by architects and residents.

Restoring these gems involves more than just whitewashing a few walls.

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