Description
For centuries, traditional wooden folk houses known as " kominka" have embodied the cultural values of the agrarian, merchant, and samurai societies of pre-modern Japan. Their huge sturdy posts and powerful beams have withstood earthquakes and other natural disasters, demonstrating the artistry of Japanese carpenters and the strength of handcrafted wood joinery. Preserved and reconstructed today, kominka offer silent testimony to the enduring beauty and resilience of Old Japan. Kazuo Hasegawa's profusely illustrated book introduces readers to the vernacular architecture, equips travelers with a guide to Japan's 101 must-visit kominka and villages, and is a useful reference for those who are planning to embark, as the author did, on a kominka renovation journey of their own.
About the Author
Kazuo Hasegawa is Japan's one of leading advocates for the preservation of historic kominka. He is a former publisher of the residential real estate magazine. Around the mid 1980's attracted by a simple beauty of traditional houses and old town atmosphere, he walks around Japan to seek and take photographs of them. In 2010, his dream kominka is reconstructed and completed in Yamanashi after 30 years of his research and study.