The Benten Residences are two beautifully restored traditional machiya townhouses sitting side-by-side in the Higashiyama district of Kyoto. Shimaya Stays, the Singapore-based company responsible for their restoration, recently invited us to stay in the Benten West house for a couple of nights, so we could see for ourselves what good work they have been doing. We also had the … [Read more...]
Mosaic Machiya KSK (Kamishichiken)
Mosaic Machiya KSK is a great little guesthouse in a quiet area of north west Kyoto. This guesthouse is located in a beautifully renovated machiya, a traditional wooden townhouse, in Kamishichiken, which is the oldest geisha district in Kyoto. Mewby and I were recently invited to their 2nd year anniversary party and we were very impressed with what we saw there. Prior to … [Read more...]
Campton Luxury Lodges: The Future of Kyomachiya
As regular readers know, I am a big fan of Kyoto’s machiya: the traditional wooden townhouses that once formed an integral part of this ancient city’s streetscape. As such I am always keen to support and promote local business that have wised-up to the great potential of these old houses as shops, restaurants, cafes, and hotels. I recently wrote about one such exciting venture; … [Read more...]
Shinkamanza Machiya Resort Named “Village Kiramachi”; New Photos from Our Stay
A few months ago I wrote about an innovative machiya townhouse revival project in the Shinkamanza district of central Kyoto. Under the supervision of local architectural company, Good Design Works, not just one traditional townhouse but a whole group of houses has been renovated and reinvented as a single integrated resort hotel. I have now been informed that the resort has … [Read more...]
Shinkamanza: An Innovative Machiya Townhouse Resort in Downtown Kyoto
Last year I was invited to view the ongoing work on an exciting machiya revival project in central Kyoto. Overseen by a local architectural company called Good Design Works the plan is to renovate not just one traditional townhouse but an entire unit of houses as a single integrated resort hotel. Machiya are the traditional wooden townhouses of Kyoto. Their dark lattice … [Read more...]
Matcha Tea & Machiya in Kyoto – Two Articles for GuideAdvisor
Whether you are interested in tea ceremony or traditional architecture, two pieces I wrote for GuideAdvisor earlier this year, offer my top tips for for your trip to Kyoto. The first article is on how to find the very best machiya: the traditional wooden townhouses of Kyoto. After decades of neglect and outright destruction, machiya have been undergoing something of a … [Read more...]
Ran Hotei Cafe – Vintage Taishō Romance & Excellent Cake
On Wednesday I took a walk over to the Sanjo-kai Shōtengai shopping arcade and popped into Randy Channell's machiya cafe Ran Hotei. Randy is well known as a master of Japanese tea ceremony, and he does teach a few tea ceremony classes at Ran Hotei. Mainly though he gives classes at a shrine near the Imperial Palace. So if you are not interested in tea ceremony, that's … [Read more...]
Kawai Kanjiro’s House
This is the house of Kawai Kanjiro, a legendary potter and a key figure in the mingei or Japanese folk art movement. His beautiful wooden townhouse has been preserved as a memorial run by his family. The building itself and the garden are wonderful, but you can also see here many of his works: ceramics, sculptures, and woodcarvings. His kilns are preserved at the back of the … [Read more...]
Trattoria Dougetsu by the Ocean
Mewby's birthday was a couple of weeks back and to celebrate I took her to Trattoria 道月 by the Ocean. Though the name is a bit unwieldy, the restaurant itself is very welcoming and friendly, and the food was superb. This is the outside of the building which as you can see is a lovely old (but fully renovated!) machiya townhouse. You can't beat a bit of machiya dining when in … [Read more...]
Machiya Dining at Cameron
This restaurant, Cameron is, in a very good way, odd. The graceful decor, the attentive service, and the exquisite delicacies they serve you, all give the impression of expense. Yet though we ate our fill of fine things and were waited on hand and foot, after bracing ourselves for a very steep bill, we were surprised to find we had spent less than at your average rough and … [Read more...]
Kyoto Machiya Restaurant Guide: Affordable Dining in Traditional Townhouse Spaces
I am currently reading this new book by Judith Clancy and at some point will write up a proper review for Kyoto Journal. But for the time being here are some rough notes and impressions. Machiya are the traditional wooden townhouses of Kyoto, sadly under continuing threat from modern developers and their preference for boxy apartment buildings and parking lots. This book … [Read more...]
Épice
Last Monday was Mewby's birthday and every year, on her birthday, I take her out to a restaurant that must fit two criteria: it must be somewhere new (for us) and it must be super posh! This year it was Épice, a French restaurant in an old wooden machiya townhouse not far from the Imperial Palace Park. It's a pleasant spot, and the food could best be described as … [Read more...]
Ushinohone Anaza
Here's another comfy, little izakaya style restaurant in an old machiya building on Sanjo. There are lots of simple but tasty Japanese dishes to choose from here. Behold the food! Ushinohone Anaza is part of a group of restaurants established in Kyoto in 1985. They specialize in hot charcoal cooked dishes and seasonal obanzai ryori. The … [Read more...]
京町家の再生 – Machiya Revival in Kyoto
I've just finished reading this fine little book about the machiya (町家) of Kyoto. Machiya are the traditional narrow wooden townhouses of the old capital. Once, their tiled roofs and wooden lattice fronts typified Kyoto’s urban landscape. However, since the end of WW2 this traditional landscape has in large part been replaced by high rise buildings and parking lots. 13% of … [Read more...]
