Preface

Although the Chinese have preferred the courtyard house since ancient times, the Japanese have never built it, even though the Japanese modelled the construction of their ancient cities after the Chinese grid model during the seventh century. The townhouses and shophouses in Japan were developed spontaneously during the Medieval period, and intentionally in later periods, as seen all over the world. The products in both cases are called Machiya. The shophouse typology was typical in Kyoto, where small shop-owners along the street gradually extended their buildings backward until they finally formed narrow, deep shophouses. The width of the buildings was narrow, but they were built in a variety of sizes.

The townhouse typology was found in planned towns and cities—Jyokamachi (Castle-city), Shukubamachi (Inn-town), Zaigomachi (Rural-town), and so on—after the Edo period. The lots along the streets were subdivided based on specific widths so that shophouses could be formed. The standard width was 5.4 metres (18 shaku or feet), and sometimes double that size. The Machiya is now part of the essential urban heritage for the Japanese people. 

Appearance

A house built along the street is widely called Machiya in Japanese, as Machi means town, and Ya house respectively. This is a very common house type for urban dwellers of traditional society. A family that occupied a Machiya was engaged in various kinds of commercial and/or manufacturing businesses. The most popular business was merchandising, which required some spaces for reception, displaying, dining, lodging, storage and so on, besides family living space. Zashiki or Tatami was a multi-functional room that met most of the spatial requirements, while Niwa, earthen floor space, functions as indoor passage, kitchen, and so on (Fig. 1).

Noticing the business signboard displayed along the street, customers would enter the front Niwa through the entrance to look at the merchandise and negotiate with the shopkeeper, as the merchandise was not shown directly to the public (Fig. 2). The space to sell/buy was called Mise in Japanese, and it always faces the street. The linguistic origin of Mise is from Miseru, a verb meaning to let people see, and later it came to mean as such kind of space; shop and stall. It was also possible for some families to manufacture something in the rear workshop and sell it in the Mise. The prosperous families built a fireproof warehouse, Dozo, in backyard to protect their valuable things from fire.

Therefore, the Machiya was generally built and managed by the families engaging in some business for customers in town. It was architecturally a single-detached house (no sharing walls with neighboring house), and was similar with rural Japanese house in terms of plan and construction. The Machiya could be developed wherever busy traffic is, and formed traditional streetscape in Japan. However, the Machiya was developed by different processes in Japan. One was Kyo-Machiya, which appeared in Kyoto of the Middle Ages by long historical process.

Kyo-Machiya

Kyoto was planned and built in a grid pattern after Chinese city (Fig. 3). According to the officers and aristocrats, they were assigned a certain portion of land based on their status/ranking. They built their residences in them, the Shinden-Zukuri style (Fig. 4). It consisted of several single-detached houses provided with large garden and pond, in contrast with the Chinese courtyard house in their city. The courtyard style house has never been developed in Japan, because it was probably not suitable for Japanese natural and cultural environment.

As soon as the Kyoto Imperial government lost controlling power over the city, some people began to occupy the street side and constructed simple huts to open their small Mise as shown in old illustration (Fig. 5). As they prospered with the business, they rented or bought the adjacent lands behind their stores from the owners, and built their dwelling house and workshop there (Fig. 6). The owners needed large block for their residence no more, and were willing to sell a portion/whole of their land. In this way, early Mise spaces were extended deep backward for dwelling, workshop, storage and so on, until finally, Machiya was formed (Fig. 7, 8). The width varied in the circumstance, mostly around 5 m wide. This is so for the reason that they wanted as many house to face the street as possible as they can. Tsuboniwa, a spot garden was sometimes placed between the extensions to have better ventilation and illumination. This process is believed to have taken place in Kyoto, and so is called Kyo-Machiya.

At Nishijin, authentic textile manufacturing area, there was a lot of the sophisticated Kyo-Machiya (Fig. 9). To protect the timber house from fire and robbery, the Machiya was often provided with Mushiko-mado, latticed window and Udatsu, wall projection (Fig. 10). It was also often wrapped with thick clay plastering, on which Kotee, colourful stucco ornament, was applied (Fig. 11).

Ordinary Machiya

The second process took place in Jyoka-machi, Castle-Town all over Japan from the late 16th century to early 17th century, when Shogun and Daimyo, the local lords started construction of the own town gathering settlements of various classes/professions of people into one place. In contrast with the Samurai class quarter occupied by the single-detached houses, the ordinary people class quarter was subdivided by the Machiya standard wide frontage, 5.4 m or18 shaku wide along the street, and the house had to be built 0.9 m or 3 shaku apart from the front boundary so that the front eaves did not project over the street. However, as the street was too narrow to provide traffic to modern vehicles, most Machiya had to be partly cut off or demolished after the Meiji period (1868-1911). Kawagoe’s case was unusual, it originated in Jyokamachi that was destroyed by the big fire of 1893, and then the Machiyas were rebuilt in Dozo style along the new widened street (Fig. 12).

The third type of Machiya formation process was often found where ever busy traffic took place. The Tokugawa Shogunate developed highway system all over Japan in the early 17th century, and built Shukuba-machi, post town (or inn town) in certain interval. The designated area of Shukuba-machi was divided into several blocks, which was subdivided by standard frontage, 5.4 m or 18 shaku wide along the street (Fig. 13, 14). The most common business in Shukuba-machi was to provide travelers with various kinds of services, in particular lodging and eating. The Machiya functioning lodging was called Hatagoya, and often had double standard frontage and a second story to provide more rooms (Fig. 15, 16).

In Futagawa, a former post town, Komaya was one of the richest families engaging in pawnbroker at the centre of the town, and had double frontage plot, 3 Dozos, guestroom and teahouse beside own shop & dwelling house (Fig. 1). Another essential business in traditional towns was the manufacturing of Miso or soybean paste, Shoyu or soy sauce, and Sake or Japanese liquor. The owners were usually wealthy families and could afford double standard frontage of Machiya (Fig. 17).

Conclusion

As the Kyo-Machiya has developed spontaneously through long history including the big fire in 1864, they vary in size, plan, façade, ornaments and structures. On the other hand, the ordinary Machiya in Jyoka-machi and Shukuba-machi of the Edo period have similar appearances as they were built under same conditions and regulations. After the Meiji period (1868-1911), the merchants built their Machiya solidly as the wealth allows, and now they are the heritage of the towns throughout the country.

References:

1. Noboru SHIMAMURA, Machiya in Kyoto, Kajima Publication, 1971

2. Atsushi UEDA, Kyo-Machiya, Kajima Publication, 1976.

3. Gaijiro FUJISHIMA, A Series of Visits to Machiya, Gakugei Publication, 1993

4. Osaku OOBA, Pre-Modern and Modern Machiya, Chuou-Kouron-Bijyutsu Publication, 2004.

5. Hideo IZUMIDA, Historical Shop houses in East Asia, Journal of Housing Research Institute 1995, 1995.

6. Hideo IZUMIDA, Towns and Houses in East Asia through Immigration and Colonization, Gakugei Publication, 2006.

Discussion will be carried on in order to describe conservation/restoration of historical town-house.

Fig. 2 Typical Machiya Facade, Komaya, Toyohashi

Fig. 3 Kyoto grid pattern and residential lot

Fig. 4 Image of Shindenzukuri style residence

Fig. 5 Scene of Mise development along the street, Kyoto, in the 15th c.

Fig. 6 Process of Kyo-Machiya development

Fig. 7 Layout of present Kyo-Machiya along the street

Fig. 8 Streetscape of present Kyo-Machiyas

Fig.9 Façade of Kyo-Machiya, Nishijin

Fig.10 Udatsu and Kotee

Fig. 11 Niwa, reception and indoor passage, Nishijin

Fig. 12 Streetscape of Machiyas, Kawagoe

Fig. 13 Shukuba-machi, Futagawa, Toyohashi, Aichi

Fig. 14 Streetscape of present Futagawa, Komaya and Higashi-Komaya

Fig. 15 Hatagoya or Inn, Akasaka Post Town, Aichi

Fig. 16 Reception Scene of Guest in Hatagota, Futagawa Post Town Museum

Fig. 17 Plan of Higashi-Komaya, Miso Manufacturer, Toyohashi, built around 1900

Fig. 18 Plan of Nishi-Komaya, Miso Manufacturer, Toyohashi, built early 20th c.

Fig. 1 Typical Mchiya Layout, Komaya, Toyohashi