Conserving the past: heritage

Teacher note

Emiko Yamanaka wants to save the 200 year old Kyoto town house she and generations of her family have lived in.

She came back from her studies of Japanese history in the USA to live in the town house with her parents – and stepped up her conservation campaign for Machiya - townhouses. Machi means town, Ya means houses or building. Emiko now wants to apply that knowledge to understanding her self, her family and Kyoto history. She is part of a citizens movement – wanting central and local government to help conserve town houses. Emiko is the fifth generation of this merchant family – her father continues the family oil business.

Their place is not a museum. It is lived in – and has served her family over two centuries.

It evolved from the same wooden house in a narrow street, opposite to the old attractive and functional features of the current Yamanaka house with its safety door and windows. The sliding door construction was for protection against thieves and fire – it is heavy and noisy. The thieves cannot come in and the inhabitants can hear the noise.
The structure of the house is supported by pillars that stand on the stones. They are not cemented on the foundation. “If something is ruined we can replace a part. Everything is recycled” says Emiko.

Emiko presses government officials to help save the town house – and other old town houses like it. She does not want her house to be replaced by concrete – the fate of the old Imperial Palace next door.

Her conservation campaign is focused on preventing loss – other conservation work for historic places needs to concentrate on methods of timber preservation and reconstruction.

The campaign is making progress. The Scenery Law is a national law from Japan’s Diet, the Parliament, passed in March 2006. Three houses have been designated under this law. The Yamanaka house is one of them. As Ritsumeikan’s Professor Hara said when he visited the Yamanaka house for the first time “This is a rare and precious spot”.

Nevertheless, fewer people use Machiya as their residences and places of work, perhaps 3% of the 28,000, 200 year old town houses.

The oil provided by the Yamanaka family used to light houses in the days before electricity – and Emiko’s father continued to run a rather different oil merchant business from the family home. But the oil business has changed with time and technology.

The Yamanaka family, which lived in these houses since Japan ‘s Edo period several hundred years ago, sold rape oil as the core of their family business. There was no electricity in the olden days. The Yamanaka rape oil was important for fueling lights.

Is their oil business still good? Does the family use new technologies or products?
There are not lots of customers – but Emiko says they are getting more and more now. We now import from Italy. Oil is getting less expensive, there is mass production, low prices. The oil they sell there is made in an intricate production process, which makes their oil expensive.

What is the threat to the historic house where the Yamanaka family lives, and to other Machiya?
“There is no immediate threat. But the trend to commercialization poses a threat. People may sell such houses, or tear them down and replace them with a concrete structure.
My father has no plans to sell this house” says Emiko.
“It is easy to forget custom, and to seek profit by the sale” – the cause of threat to other similar houses.
Ten years ago Kyoto Prefectural Government established there were 28,000 such old houses. By seven years later 13% had been destroyed. Most of these were in central Kyoto. The national and Kyoto government did very little. Citizens did not want to live in old houses in Kyoto and other parts of Japan.

Professor Hara notes the need to pay inheritance tax. “That is a burden as generations move on. The surviving family may sell.”
The law helps the Yamanaka family to get subsidies and exemption from the inheritance tax. We are allowed to change inside. But we don’t want to. This is good for us. We don’t want to change the building, she says. “We are of only three in Japan. These other 28,000 houses should be protected. They are our heritage for Kyoto and Japan.” There is a citizens movement. It includes many people who study traditional houses. Carpenters groups help the Citizens Committee for Reviving the Machiya Town houses Centre. Kyoto City is also giving subsidies for big and small houses

Is it normal for people in Japan to have political movements and call for change?|
“It is not so active. But some in Kyoto City are working very hard.” Emiko says. She uses a small rented place for the Centre, and works with Kyoto City Office and also with universities to give lectures. “I give people a chance to know what is important – every part of the house means something. It is nice to be nice to the environment. We must protect those old structures.”

Whilst Emiko lived in this house when she was young and her friends were in newer houses she was envious. “30 years ago people felt like that. The preference was for things that were newer and newer” she recalls.
“People were not aware. Some do now interpret between new and old. Some keep the new style. We can still keep the good points. Someone needs to tell. I was one to introduce old structures of the home and their importance.
“Everything is going to be gone. But new ones we will have from now on. We need to act. That was my job to interpret to the new generation and about new styles of home. Don’t forget old style” she says.
“Where ever I go I try to tell them about the wood, bamboo and paper. And be good and nice to their environment.”

A lot of Tokyo companies come into Kyoto to rent traditional Machiya. They convert them to restaurants. Professor Hara underlines that Ms Yamanaka is not very comfortable about this.
“Convert. Completely. Everything is near basics. They don’t care. They just want to get profit. They change. Economically they put in lots of money to get customers. If they don’t get profit they forget about Machiya. They change completely so residents can’t get there any more. There is the corridor and the stairs, and their old scars. They are there from generations of old residents.. Guests now make scars with their shoes. I don’t like this.”

She thinks Tokyo firms are misusing – exploiting - the town houses. ‘Too modern. Or simply discarded tradition. What they want is just to get profit. The price of the house is just getting higher and higher. Tokyo companies can’t even buy these city houses now with the bubble prices. Machiya is a real estate bubble. Destroying the past.”

From Anthony Haas, Asia Pacific Economic News service

6 March 2007

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