Japanese village. Ainokura Japanese Village
I could sit in one place all month in Japan and remain just as pleased. But I decided: if you are going to travel, then you need to plan everything so that the trip is the most diverse. Therefore, Takayama ended up on my route: firstly, these are mountains, and secondly, these are Gassno's houses. There were a few other places you could go from Takayama, like the famous village of Shirakawago and the world's largest cable car, but the bus routes were refreshingly expensive. Of course, I was aware of Japanese train prices, they are scary, but there are ways to save money, but there are no ways to save money on buses. A round-trip ticket for the route, which lasts only an hour, costs 5,000 yen. for the sake of cable car, or rather, for the sake of the view that opens from it, I would have paid so much plus about so much for tickets to the road itself, but it was closed for the annual technical inspection for exactly the 5 days that I was in Takayama, literally the same day.
Therefore, I had to be content with walking around Takayama itself and the local village of Gassno, or rather the museum, which was made based on its motives, collecting all the old houses on one territory. The name "gassno" comes from the word for hands folded in prayer. Those. in Nepalese, you can say that this is the village of Namaste =) The reasons for choosing this form are not religious, it’s just that in this region of Japan there is a lot of snow in winter.
All of these houses were built during the Edo period, meaning they could be between 400 and 150 years old. Wow! Something, of course, was restored, but it's still hard to believe that a simple tree could stand for so long.
Spring, icicles on the roof.
Each house belonged to a family, and so it is called by name. You can wander inside and visit different rooms.
It's mostly very dark in there, and my camera doesn't have a flash, so there's only one photo.
You can wander among the trees and feel like you are in ancient Japan. I additionally catch flashbacks of Indonesia and Batak houses on Lake Toba. I traveled all these mountains in Southeast Asia and collected in my mind a collection of what I like most in each country. And then she came to Japan and found all this here. Even my favorite houses improved for winter! There is also a lake, but it is small.
The pure truth about a lot of snow. Outside mid-April, and still how much!
Thatched roofs.
And again icicles on the roofs.
How beautiful it is here!
The structure of the Japanese village is completely preserved. There is a temple at the very top, and old statues of Buddhas in aprons.
And other religious buildings.
There are vegetable gardens.
Wood shed.
Mill.
And a cast-iron kettle ripens on the coals.
If it were not for the lack of people, museum displays and signs on every corner, one could really imagine that he was in the distant past.
You can take a picture in clothes near the cart, and for free, but it’s probably no longer possible to wander around the village in a suit.
Puppet Museum. These dolls were exhibited at the entrance to houses in which there were children-girls, so that they would grow well and be healthy. The doll was supposed to be not one, but a whole set. Dolls for this museum were donated by local residents.
Sudden retro hi-tech. Something souvenir for tourists.
Today I will completely overwhelm you with beauty, because. right after the village, I climbed to the top of the mountain. Up the neat steps.
Okay, I won't exaggerate. And along the road, littered with snow, I had to make my way, and along the forest path.
But in the most dangerous and difficult places there were steps and railings anyway. This is Japanese concern for others and love for details.
Handsomely. And there is a bench to admire this beauty.
Something like this.
Or without extra objects in the frame.
I could still walk along various small tracks to get to a few more temples, but the snow blockages on the road and the total emptiness caused certain doubts in me. Yes, and my sneakers are already wet, despite all the Japanese concern for the neighbor.
I would love to come back here with good shoes, a bike and plenty of time to wander around and ride a lot. The mountains in Japan are no worse than the Himalayas.
The Land of the Rising Sun is amazing, everyone will find a place to their liking in it, whether it's modern Tokyo or traditional Kyoto. When everyone is in charge tourist routes passed, it's time to go to the Japanese wilderness. In this post we will talk about the village of Ainokura, a fabulous valley of gingerbread houses.
2. High green hills reliably protected the picturesque villages of Shirakawago and Gokayama (the settlement of Ainokura belongs to it) from prying eyes for many centuries. Thanks to the development of road infrastructure and domestic tourism, historical villages hidden in the remote mountainous regions of Gifu and Toyama Prefectures (Honshu Island, Japan) have become known outside their native land. In 1995, the charming villages were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
3. About three hours drive from the popular tourist city of Takayama (Gifu Prefecture), about ten minutes walk up the hill, and you have a view of a small valley. It is so quiet here that you can hear the wind howling and the grass swaying. Tiny rice fields of rich green color, tall pine trees and a whitish haze that covers the village in the late evening - in Ainokura, the eyes rest, the mind clears up, and the body is saturated with oxygen. The air here is so clean that you feel dizzy out of habit.
4. The farmhouses are built using the gassho-zukuri technique traditional for these areas. Gassho literally means "hands folded in prayer" - the two steep slopes of the thatched roof symbolize the palms of the monks.
5. Not a single nail was used in the construction of the dwellings. In the hands of the Japanese, wood and straw turned into reliable and durable materials: the houses withstood the harsh climate and survived the great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of their creators.
6. In summer it is humid here, in winter there are snowdrifts up to the waist, and the huts stand for themselves and stand for 200 and 300 years.
8. In the village of Ainokura, there are 23 houses made using the gassho-zukuri technique.
10. Locals are subsistence farming and eat mainly what they have grown.
11. The hostess complained to me that it was hard with carrots - they ordered from the city. But watermelons are fine.
12. Eating vegetables from your own garden is just fine, but you can’t earn money on the education of children with one garden. That is why enterprising farmers converted their houses into museums and cafes, and someone even began to rent out rooms to tourists.
13. There are 6 houses in Ainokura, the owners of which are ready to let a stranger stay for the night. Rooms are in high demand - you have to book in advance, and sometimes much in advance (depending on the season).
14. A night in a thatched house will cost 8,000-10,000 yen (5,000-7,000 rubles per person) and will give you the opportunity to walk around the village when the last tourist bus leaves it. The fee includes not only a bed in a separate room, but also two meals a day (dinner and breakfast). The "Goyomon" cabin where I stayed is over three hundred years old, and the descendants of the original owner still live in it.
15. Inside each traditional hut there is a spacious hall with a square hole in the floor exactly in the middle. This room serves as a living room and dining room - around the hearth, the household and their guests sit on thin pillows.
16. Residents of Ainokur make a fire at home every day, grill fish on coals and boil water in a cast-iron kettle suspended on a massive chain.
17. A typical local dinner consists of boiled vegetables, pickles, charcoal fish, tempura and river fish sashimi, which must be accompanied by a bowl of rice. All vegetables, with the exception of carrots, are grown here. Fish caught nearby.
18. A light breeze rushes through the open window, and you sleep very sweetly, as you once slept in your native Russian village, where you were also fed food from the garden and told old fairy tales at night (and completely free of charge).
19. Early in the morning a dense fog spreads around the village, and only the yellowish tint of the grass hints that the sun has risen.
24. The kettle swings over embers, and breakfast is waiting on a small table.
25. The morning menu includes a bowl of rice, scrambled eggs, fresh and stewed vegetables, tofu boiled in broth and pickles.
26. After a hearty breakfast and farewell to the hospitable hostess, your legs themselves carry you to the hill, which overlooks the valley.
27. The landscape pacifies, I don’t want to return to the metropolis at all. Like any other village, Ainokura inevitably ages. Young people are drawn to big cities, and only pensioners remain in the "valley of gingerbread houses".
28. Having cooked in the capital's cauldron, the children of Ainokura will surely return here. The cleanest mountain air, tasty and healthy food, own house with a long history as a source of income - not life, but a dream. And I can only hope that the meeting with fairy village was not the last.
Ainokura Village (相倉, Ainokura)
How to get there (not a short distance):
It is advisable to combine a trip to Ainokura with a visit to Shirakawago (白川郷, English Shirakawago), the largest historical village in the area
There is a local bus from Shirakawago (40 minutes, 1300 yen one way) to Ainokura (the stop is called 相倉口、Ainokuraguchi)
There are two typical routes to Shirakawago from Tokyo that are popular with tourists as they pass through picturesque cities teeming with sights: Kanazawa and Takayama
1) Through Kanazawa (Kanazawa/金沢）
High speed train from Tokyo to Kanazawa (about 14,000 yen one way, about 3 hours on the way), from there by Nohi Bus to Shirakawago (1,850 yen one way, a little over 2 hours on the way)
2) Through Takayama (Takayama/高山）
Bus from Shinjuku to Takayama (6,690 yen one way; 5.5 hours) by Nohi Bus, from there by the same company to Shirakawago (2,470 yen one way; 2.5 hours)
Traveling through Takayama is much cheaper, but almost twice as long.
There is another option to get through Nagoya, in terms of money and time it will be almost the same as through Takayama.
The problem of the outflow of people from small villages to cities is relevant not only for Russia, but also for many other countries, including Japan. To solve this problem, local authorities sometimes introduce various subsidies for those who move to live in their settlement.
This is what they did in the Japanese village of Mishima, which is located on three islands in Kagoshima Prefecture in the southwest of Kyushu. You can get here by ferry. At the moment, about four hundred people live in the village, and therefore extra hands here will obviously not be superfluous. In particular, workers are needed to help in agriculture.
First, you will be reimbursed for your travel expenses, up to 100,000 yen. In addition, local authorities promise to pay 85,000 yen per month (43,000 rubles) if the new resident is single, and if he is with his wife, the fee will be 100,000 yen (51,000 rubles). If you have a child, then up to 10,000 yen per person is added, and if there are two children, then 20,000 yen. Financial support is also provided in case of childbirth, and for the education of children.
In addition, a new family is given a cow. In principle, you can refuse a cow, taking instead a one-time payment of 500,000 yen (256,000 rubles).
Housing will have to be paid out of pocket, since it is inexpensive here - renting a three-room house will cost from 15,000 to 23,000 yen per month (7,700-11,700 rubles).
If you are single, the local authorities will try to help you arrange your personal life. There is even a special project for this.
Now about the requirements for new settlers. First, you must be no more than 55 years old. Secondly, parasites are not expected here - you should plan to start a family (if not already), and also get a job in agricultural or fishing jobs. In addition, self-employment is possible. In any case, the last word remains with the headman of the village, it will be he who will decide whether to accept a new resident into a friendly Japanese community.
The Japanese believe that everyone has their own ikigai. This is one of the main concepts of their philosophy of health and longevity, which can be deciphered as "a sense of one's own destiny." In December, Alpina Publisher publishes the book Ikigai: The Japanese Secrets of a Long and Happy Life. Researcher Hector Garcia (Kirai) and writer Francesc Miralles studied this phenomenon and visited the village of centenarians Ohimi on the island of Okinawa, whose youngest resident is 83 years old. "Theories and Practices" publishes a fragment about their trip.
To get to Ohimi, we had to fly three hours from Tokyo to Naha, the capital of Okinawa. A few months earlier, we had contacted the administration of the "centennial village" and explained that we wanted to interview the elders in the community. After long negotiations, we managed, with the help of two officials, to rent a house near Ohimi.
A year after the start of the project, we were ready to lift the veil of secrecy and meet the oldest people in the world. We immediately realized that in Ohimi, time stood still, as if everyone was living in an endless present.
Arriving in Ohimi
We pulled away from Naha and two hours later we finally got out of the traffic jams. On the right hand - the sea and deserted beaches, on the left - mountains, overgrown yanbaru(as the forests in Okinawa are called).
Passing the city of Nago, where Orion beer, the pride of Okinawa, is made, we drove along Route 58 along the sea to the municipality of Ohimi. On both sides of the road, houses and small shops were visible, sandwiched between the highway and the mountain - apparently, there was no center as such in the village.
The GPS navigator led us to our destination, the Ohimi Health Center, which turned out to be an ugly concrete building at the exit of the highway.
We enter through the back door, where Tyra is already waiting for us. Next to him is a small smiling woman who introduces herself as Yuki. Two women are sitting nearby and working at a computer, they immediately get up and escort us to the conference room. They bring us green tea and give us a couple of shikuwas fruits.
Taira is dressed in a business suit, he is the head of the health department in Ohimi. Tyra sits across from us, opens her diary and file cabinet. Yuki sits next to him.
The Taira archive lists all the villagers, names arranged in order of seniority within each "club". The Taira tells us that each Ohimi resident belongs to a certain "club", or moai, in which all members help each other. These groups have no specific purpose, they are somewhat like families.
Tyra also reports that in Ohimi, many of the activities are supported by volunteer work, not money. All residents are ready to contribute, and the village authorities distribute tasks. Thus, everyone feels belonging to the community and feels useful to it.
Ohimi is the penultimate village on the northern tip of Okinawa. From the top of one of the mountains you can see it in its entirety - it is very green, all in the yanbaru forests. We ask ourselves where people live here: the population of Ohimi is 3200 people. Only lonely houses are visible from the mountain - near the sea or in the valleys.
Community life
We are invited to dine at one of the few Ohimi restaurants, but when we arrive, all three tables are already booked.
“It's okay, then let's go to a restaurant next door, there's always room,” Yukiko says, walking back to the car.
She is 88, she still drives and is proud of it. Her neighbor is 99 and he also decided to spend the day with us.
We race after them on a dirt road. Finally we leave the forest, here is a restaurant where we can finally eat.
I don't usually eat at restaurants,” Yukiko says as she sits down. - I eat what grows in my garden. And I buy fish from Tanaka, we have been friends all our lives.
The restaurant is located right next to the sea and resembles the planet Tatooine from Star Wars. The menu says in big letters that they serve "natural food" made with organic vegetables grown in Ohimi.
“Well, food is not the main thing,” Yukiko continues. She seems open and outgoing, and enjoys serving as the head of several organizations in Ohimi.
“Food does not prolong life; the secret is to smile and have a good time,” she says, bringing a tiny sweet from the menu of the day to her mouth.
There are no bars at all in Ohimi, and only a few restaurants, but this does not prevent the islanders from leading an active social life - it revolves around community centers. The village is divided into 17 neighboring communities, each of which has its own president and officials responsible for different aspects of life - culture, holidays, social events and longevity - he is given special attention here.
We are invited to the club of one of the 17 communities. This is an old building that nestles against the slope of one of the mountains covered with yanbaru jungle, in which the bunagaya, the patrons of Ohimi, live.
Bunagaya - yanbaru spirits
Bunagaya are magical creatures that, according to legend, live in the yanbaru forests - in Ohimi and neighboring villages. They are portrayed as children with long red hair. Bunagaya like to hide in the crowns of trees and go fishing down to the sea.
Many wonderful stories are told about these forest spirits in Okinawa. They are big jokers, like to fool around and are generally extremely unpredictable.
The Ohimi people say that the bunagaya love mountains, rivers, sea, trees, earth, wind, water, and animals, so if you want to befriend them, you need to show respect for nature.
Birthday
We enter the community center, we are met by about twenty people. They say with pride: "The youngest of us is 83 years old!"
We sit at a large table, drink green tea and talk with centenarians. After the interview, we are escorted to the assembly hall, and together we celebrate the birthday of three members of the community - one woman turns 99, another - 94, and the youngest birthday man - 89 years old.
We sing songs that are loved in Ohimi and end with Happy birthday in English. The 99-year-old birthday girl blows out the candles and thanks the guests. We try homemade cake with shikuwas, dance - in general, the birthday is the same as 22-year-olds.
This is our first holiday in a week in Ohimi. Soon we will sing karaoke with older people who are better than us, and visit the traditional festival with local musicians, dancers and street food.
Enjoy every day together
Holidays and entertainment are the most important component of life in Ohimi.
We were invited to play gateball - this is one of the favorite games of Okinawan centenarians. Gateball resembles cricket - you also need to hit the ball with a bat. Gateball can be played anywhere and is a great excuse to have some fun and get moving. Ohimi hosts gateball competitions, and there are no age restrictions for participants.
We also took part in the match and lost to a woman who had just turned 104 years old. Everyone had a lot of fun looking at each other after the game.
In addition to holidays and entertainment, religion plays an important role in the life of the village.
Gods of Okinawa
The ancient religion of the Okinawan monarchs is called Ryukushinto, which means "Way of the Gods". It combines elements of Chinese Taoism, Confucianism, Buddhism and Shintoism, as well as shamanism and animism.
According to the belief of the ancestors, the world is inhabited by an infinite number of different spirits - the spirits of the house, forest, trees, mountains ... It is very important to please these spirits by performing rituals, arranging holidays, and also honoring holy places. In Okinawa, many forests are considered sacred. There are two main types of temples - utaki and uganzu. For example, near the waterfall we go to uganza - a small open-air temple, there are incense and coins. Utaki is a stone building where people come to pray; there, according to beliefs, spirits gather.
The Okinawa religion says (and in this it differs from Shintoism) that a woman is spiritually superior to a man. Because of this, it is women in Okinawa who are invested with spiritual authority. Yuta are female mediums chosen by the village to communicate with the spirits.
An important place in this religion (and in Japanese culture in general) is given to the veneration of ancestors - in Okinawa, in the house of the eldest in the family, there is usually a small altar where sacrifices are made to the ancestors and pray for them.
Mabui
Mabui is the essence of every person, his soul and source of vital energy. Mabui is an immortal substance that makes each of us unique. Sometimes the mabui of a dead person takes up residence in someone alive - and then a special ritual is needed to free her. It is usually performed if someone, especially a young person, dies suddenly and the mabui does not want to go to the world of the dead. And mabui can be transferred to another person. For example, if a grandmother leaves her granddaughter a ring as an inheritance, she thereby passes on part of her mabui to her. It can also be transmitted by photographs.
The older the stronger
Now, some time later, I see that our days in Ohimi were full of events, but at the same time passed in an atmosphere of relaxation. This is how people live in this village: on the one hand, they are always busy with important things, on the other, they do everything calmly. Always follow your ikigai, but don't rush anywhere.
On the last day, we went for souvenirs to the market at the entrance to Ohimi. They sell only vegetables grown in the village, green tea and shikuwas juice, as well as bottles of "longevity water". It is bottled from a spring hidden in the heart of the yanbaru jungle.
We bought ourselves “longevity waters” and drank it right in the parking lot near the market, admiring the sea and hoping that these bottles contain a magical elixir that will give us health and longevity and help us find our ikigai. Finally, we took a picture at the bunagaya statue and once again read the declaration of centenarians.
Declaration of the village of centenarians
At 80 I'm still a child.
When you come for me at 90, forget about me and wait until I'm 100.
The older, the stronger.
Don't let our kids babysit us.
If you want to live long and be healthy - welcome to our village, here you will receive the blessing of nature, and together we will comprehend the secrets of longevity.
Federation of Longevity Clubs of Ohimi Village
In a week we conducted 100 interviews - we asked old people about their philosophy, ikigai, about the secrets of a long and active life. We filmed the interview with two cameras to make a short documentary.
For this chapter, we have selected conversation fragments that we found to be the most important and inspiring. All characters are 100 or more years old.
Do not be nervous
“The secret to a long life is not to be nervous. At the same time, you need to maintain susceptibility, not to let your heart grow old. If you smile and open your heart, your grandchildren and everyone else will want to see you more often.”
“The best way to fight sadness is to go outside and greet people. I do this every day. I go out into the street and say: "Good afternoon", "All the best." And then I go home and take care of my garden. I visit my friends in the evening.
“Here, no one quarrels with anyone. We try not to create unnecessary problems. Being together and having a good time, that's all."
Develop the right habits
“Every morning I get up at six with pleasure, move the curtain and admire my garden - I grow vegetables there. Then I go out into the garden and look at tomatoes, tangerines ... I like to look at them very much, I relax like that. I spend an hour in the garden and then I go to cook breakfast.”
"I grow my own vegetables and cook them myself - that's my ikigai."
“How not to become stupid over the years? The secret is in the hands. From hands to head and vice versa. If you work hard, you will live to be 100 years old.”
“I get up at four every day. I set an alarm for this time to drink coffee and do exercises. It energizes me for the rest of the day."
“I eat everything - I think that's the secret. I like a variety of food."
"Work. If you don't work, your body breaks down."
“After waking up, I go to the family altar to light incense. We must remember our ancestors. It's the first thing I do every morning."
“I get up every day at the same time, early, and spend the morning in my garden. Once a week my friends and I meet to dance.”
“I do exercises every day and walk in the morning.”
“I do taiso exercises every morning.”
"Eat vegetables and live long."
“For a long life you need to do three things: exercise, eat right and communicate with people.”
Maintain friendship every day
“Meeting friends is my main ikigai. We get together and talk, this is very important. I always remember the next time we meet, I love these meetings more than anything in my life.
"My main hobby is talking to neighbors and friends."
"Every day talking to those you love is the main secret of a long life."
" "Good morning! See you!" - I say to the children who go to school, and to those who are driving, I shout "Drive carefully!". From 8:00 to 8:15 pm I stand outside and greet everyone. And then I go home."
“Drinking tea and chatting with neighbors is the best thing in the world. And sing along."
“I get up every morning at five, leave the house and go down to the sea. Then I go to visit a friend and we drink tea. That's the secret to a long life - dating other people."
Live without haste
“I tell myself all the time: “Calm down”, “Slow down”. Without haste, you live longer. This is my secret to longevity."
“I make wicker baskets every day, this is my ikigai. I wake up and first of all I pray, then I have breakfast and do exercises. At seven I start working. By five I get tired and go to meet my friends.”
“Do a lot of things every day. Find activities all the time, but do not do them all at once, one after another.
“The secret to a long life is to go to bed early, get up early and walk a lot. Live in peace and enjoy. Get along with friends. Spring, summer, autumn, winter… Enjoy every season.”
be an optimist
“Every day I tell myself: “Today will be a day full of vigor and joy.”
“I am 98 years old, but I still consider myself young. I still have a lot to do."
“Laughing is the main thing. Whatever I do, I laugh."
“I will live to be a hundred. I would certainly live! This thought really motivates me.”
"Singing and dancing along with my grandchildren is the best thing in my life."
“My closest friends are already in heaven. There are no more fishing boats in Ohimi because there are almost no fish. Previously, it was possible to buy fish - both large and small. And now there are no boats, and there are no people either. They are all in heaven."
“I am happy that I was born here. I thank the gods every day for this.”
"The main thing in Ohimi and in life is to smile."
“I do volunteer work at Ohimi to get back what I was given. For example, I take my friends to the hospital in my car.”
“There are no secrets. You just have to live."
In the heart of Kyoto Prefecture, in a mountainous area, there is a kind of ethnographic reserve: a carefully preserved old village with thatched roofs. The place is called - Kayabuki-no Sato - "Village of thatched roofs."
About 50 houses covered with dry reeds according to centuries-old traditions.
I invite you for a walk around the village and an excursion inside one of the houses.
The village has been known since about the 16th century. Since that time, not much seems to have changed here. And for the last half century, all changes are possible only with the permission of the monitoring state bodies. There are no more than a dozen such places in all of Japan, and Kayabuki no Sato is one of the three largest.
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Rice field in front of the village.
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Ripe rice.
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Buckwheat blooms white. This will be the second harvest of buckwheat this year. In the village itself, there are a couple of restaurants serving home-grown buckwheat.
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Buckwheat flowers.
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One of the restaurants. Also under a thatched roof.
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Even mailboxes are preserved in the fashion of the middle of the last century.
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A small roadside temple for the patron saint of travelers and children Jizo-san.
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Almost all houses in the village are residential. At the same time, the exterior and, especially, the roofs are preserved in their old form.
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To the right in the flowerbed is shaggy - this is the very reed with which houses are covered. Only here it is for beauty. And for roofs, the reed is cut along the rivers, where it grows in whole fields.
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Rice in a village field is harvested by hand, in the old fashioned way. And hung in bunches on frames to dry.
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And in this house - a museum of life of past times.
In the foreground is the house itself. Immediately behind it you can see the white building of the "barn" - a warehouse for all sorts of things.
Another building of the complex was not included in the frame on the right side.
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Another storage shed for agricultural tools.
All three buildings of the estate are interconnected by covered passages.
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Before entering the house (on the left). On the right you can see one of the outbuildings. The roof hangs very low, even I had to bend my head to get through.
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Genkan (entrance hall). This house is actually combined with the kitchen. On the left is a stone figovina - a cooking stove, which is now used as a "showcase" for souvenirs.
Beyond the kitchen is a dining area. The visiting guest immediately gets to the "table", which is an open hearth in the floor with a cast-iron in it.
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View of the kitchen and entrance from the "dining room". The stove "two-burner" is clearly visible. And behind it is a sink for washing dishes and other things. To the left of the sink is a cupboard. The sink is old, wooden. But the plumbing is relatively modern.
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Hearth in the floor in the center of the dining room. Here the whole family gathered for food and just to sit and talk over a cup of tea.
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Wooden grate-smoker over the hearth. Houses of this type are heated "black", there is no pipe, hot smoke dissipates under the ceiling. There is no ceiling in the dining room as such - a grating that opens a direct exit of smoke through the roof.
On the left are windows to the street. Directly - like a dressing room, where things necessary for life in the house are stored and where sleeping accessories (futons, pillows, blankets) were cleaned during the day.
On the right behind the scenes - the passage to the bedroom, part-time - the living room.
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Actually the living room-bedroom. Now there is a table for guests and pillows are laid out. You can sit and have a cup of tea overlooking the village through the open gallery-veranda on the right. To the left is the dining room. And in the upper left corner you can see a dressing room with all sorts of household items that it is desirable to have at hand every day.
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And this is the opposite wall of the living-dining room. A wide window was made in the wall, opening into the adjacent room, where small calves were kept in the cold season.
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Calf in full size. Living room-bedroom - on the right. On the left you can see the passage to the outbuilding and the stairs to the second floor.
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The second floor is non-residential, technical. And here you can clearly see the structure of the roof and the house itself.
Please note: the house was built practically without the use of nails. Wooden beams are connected by grooves, into a spacer and fixed with bushings.
The basis of the roof is thin and flexible young trees tied to the beams with ropes of rice straw. From above, the base is covered with rice straw mats. And already on top of the mats, bunches of dry reeds are laid, which are tightly pressed - "sewn" to the base of the roof with the same ropes of rice straw.
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The second floor is used as a workshop for small side peasant crafts such as spinning and weaving.
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The same shot taken without flash. To better see the difference in flooring. To the left are wooden floors. And on the right behind the fence you can see the light from the first floor. On this side there is no ceiling (floor) as such, only grating. Because below is a hearth, the smoke from which rises through this flooring to the roof.
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On the left is the entrance to the "barn" warehouse, where non-essential items were kept, rarely used and on special occasions.
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Here, for example, all kinds of shoes for different occasions, including winter ones.
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Stairs to the second floor of the warehouse, where especially valuable things are stored.
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Including formal wear.
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An open gallery-veranda along the living-dining room (on the right), overlooking the garden. At the end of the gallery is a bathroom and a passage to another outbuilding.
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Bathroom and actual bath-ofuro.
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A detached outbuilding has a toilet on the outside. This triangular box hanging from the outer wall of the extension is a urinal. A log-step leads to the actual toilet.
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toilet type toilet. No frills.
The secondary product falls down into a special bucket. And then it is taken to the fields as fertilizer.
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The other half of the same outbuilding, to the right of the toilet.
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It stores agricultural equipment that is needed at a particular moment. And other large inventory and conditionally useful trash.
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In the living room of the house you can drink tea while admiring the views of the village through the open gallery-veranda.
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In the tokonoma (front corner of the living room) a beautiful scroll is hung, there is a vase with seasonal flowers and all sorts of interesting things that the owners want to show to the guests are presented.
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Having finished our tea, we thank the owners and leave the house with a thatched roof.