We went and visited a "machiya" or traditional Japanese house as a field trip with all the center kids this morning (though many were visibly absent). The machiya was actually pretty far away by taxi, because you have to get out of the downtown Kyoto area in order to enter into the more historic districts.
As stated, a machiya is a traditional Japanese house. The one we visited today just celebrated its 100 year anniversary. Some machiya are older and some are newer. It is generally the case however that modern-day construction is killing off these old types of buildings, so it was neat to get the opportunity to glimpse into the past.
Below are some pictures you can browse to give you an idea how the furui-sedai (older generation) lived. The hostess at the machiya was very nice. She gave us a tour in Japanese (which very few of the Stanford kids could understand, so they groaned and made faces of boredom while she talked about the importance of shadows and light). After the tour, she gave us tea and sweets. Some people said the tea was too bitter, but I thought it was just right.
B.E.W.
1 comment:
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