hello world in Japan's former capital
city Kyoto these are the homes that
four-time most lived in chioma Chiu's
what does the word kill matcha mean it's
a blend of Kyoto and matcha Kyoto the
city and matcha meaning town house there
are actually a ton of different types of
dwellings that fall under the kill
matcha categorization but in general
they have to be built before the 1950s
because of a building standards law that
came into place at that time and the
wooden homes need to be put together
without nails so the question I feel
this video needs to answer is what's so
special about kill matías and why I live
in an old Japanese town house because I
mean if you're like me you might have
heard that old Japanese homes are poorly
built with no insulation you can hear
your neighbors they're cold in the
winter and they're tough to maintain and
what about earthquakes
isn't there a reason for that building
standards law and isn't it a good thing
that these old places are getting
replaced by modern buildings to answer
those questions I visited four different
families as well as stayed in a guest
house and even saw a vacant traditional
Kyo matcha
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yeah I'm Richard and my Sammy and while
they lived many years overseas from
Africa to the Philippines they are
Canadian and Japanese sorry I'm Brin and
originally from Canada and as soon as I
saw the photos online I thought yeah
this looks absolutely perfect my name is
Cecilia Ramirez and I'm from Mexico for
a period of maybe two years she searched
and finally found the kill Mattia that
you wanted to renovate she'll also be
building everything with the use of
natural materials
I'm Vincent and I'm French elimination
we wanted to leave the Kyoto experience
and to be in a traditional house but at
the same time we wanted something quite
comfortable because we are living with
two kids of three and six years old
the fact that it's a it's a beautifully
made Woodhouse I think was one of the
key attractions so these were the these
are the your Cheetos it's a traditional
sliding partition door the idea behind
that was particularly in the hot summers
let's wind blow throughout the house
while giving each of the rooms privacy
these are actually the flowers from the
thousand yen note and which is a which
is a trademark of the of the maker but
we also asked him to make these this is
a heron and this this is actually my
family crest for this week we keep it a
very minimalist we keep it in the
traditional Japanese bedroom sense so we
just have the the tummy Matt's store the
futons every day in the cupboard so
probably not done the traditional
Japanese way what we really like about
the upstairs here is the height of the
ceilings so you can see these are the
original original beams from the from
the house this is supposed to be my
pottery studio but because of its
Khatami
it's kind of if you're difficult right
now then I can extend this one to over
there so something that he thinks I can
rock to the front so this is the SU
bonito bony wat traditionally in machiya
this would be in the center of the house
you have a long house and it would be in
the center and the reason they had them
they have an open area would actually
let light into the into the house this
one is actually one of my bond site so
this comes from my efforts with the
bonsai group this one was belonged to my
grandmother who is from Kyoto originally
and then probably this is about hundred
years old modern homes they're they're
beautiful they're functional but they
don't really reflect the culture of the
people who live in them where as much
here I think really reflects the the
culture yeah so there's three much you
hear the guys beside me is a guesthouse
and then it's a family next door and
then there are some businesses across
the street and some families as well
just looking at it it feels like a
modern yep wait finding any Japanese
home exactly every once in a while I go
oh yeah that's right there's a whole
world out there yeah that's really cool
I like that so the stairs are pretty
steep they're steep but I don't think
they're that's really unusual for my
view and this is the laundry the temple
that they're really nice and this
belongs to the temple as well
and then this is my daughter's room and
it's probably not back to me yeah this
is just looking down at the kitchen from
upstairs not Rokia much yeah absolutely
love the alternates in Kyoto for me are
just so so unappealing they're just
really really horrible kind of cookie
cutter homes and kind of emulate western
style in a way and they're just
absolutely devoid of soul I know what
he's talking about my house yep bought
it three years ago and it's completely
cookie cutter and nope
I wouldn't describe it as beautiful
although I do find it very practical for
my family's needs so this is our bedroom
and yes you know Japanese toilet you
know come here this is my favorite place
you know it's the best time and it's all
in the same time you can see the
beautiful garden we love to cook it's
important for us also to have a big
kitchen so we decided to put the kids
have stress this really we enjoy the
fact of being just near the river
[Music]
this is the neighbors wall so that's a
nice wall
yes so this is the back of the wall of
earth and wall okay and here of course
it needs to be repaired okay and so when
you renovate it you keep it the same
style hasn't walls yes
the walls are composed of a straw and
mud mixture both which used to come from
rice fields
that's one booth yes it's the base to
for putting the the first layer of soil
so the first three layers are quite
rough and then the last layers will be
the finish and this is what I really
like about these old places you can see
the history since Cecilia was so
passionate about Keo Mattias I asked
what she most liked about them
everything the materials how its build
the also the part of the conservation
because it's not just conservation of
architecture but it's also conservation
of the organism of Kyoto wood structures
just everything
[Music]
okay
so let's have a rundown of a basic
Chioma Chia first off they're often
called unagi no net occult are eel beds
there are two popular theories as to how
the name came about one theory states
that as taxes were determined by the
width of the building's entrance the
portion of the building that faced the
street became narrower
and the building's length increased
another theory posits that land plots
were divided up into smaller units to
bring in as many merchants as possible
to help make the city thrive so the
front part is called my Sonoma our shop
space it's where a craftsman might put
together kimonos like in Cecilia's place
our sound good like at her neighbor's
place a really friendly guy by the way
so they often had dual purposes long
before live were condos were all the
rage along the whole side of the
building would be the Torre nua which is
an earthen floor corridor this is also
worthy aqua dosa the kitchen was located
and this is what the traditional cooking
equipment looked like because it was
earthen floors footwear would be worn in
this area if you looked up you'd notice
a double height ceiling called the high
bakudo this space acted both as a
chimney for the smoke from cooking and
as a skylight behind the shop space
there would be the kosha to boot are the
living space that's where you could host
guests are simply eat your meals at the
end of the house would be the angle this
is the wooden veranda and to me it's
very iconic lee japanese it'll feature a
double set of sliding doors based on the
weather and the desired amount of wind
or light you wanted you could open and
close them to transform the room there's
even these cute little ones above an N
gawe will have a little courtyard garden
called subhana wa many Kiyomasa
are right on the street so gardens up
front were rare so in the back this is
where you could have some greenery and
let some light in in quite a few of
these house designs I've seen this is
also where you'd have your bath if you
go up the stairs to the second floor you
might notice a Haku Qaeda which
literally means box stairs with the lack
of space it's a practical way of putting
in extra storage
at the top is generally where sleeping
quarters would be the tummy rooms with
closets where you could store your
futons which you'd put out at night to
sleep in
[Music]
while a new kill matcha can be built
from scratch
due to time money and skill restraints
it is rarely done as a result their
numbers are decreasing at a whirring
rate roughly 2 or 3 kilowatts she is
being demolished
each day the current stock of around
40,000 that means by 2050 there be very
few left so that's one of a very big
kind of mission that we wanted to
accomplish to preserve as much as we can
[Music]
increasingly people are coming together
to keep these historical buildings as
well as being creative with the spaces
for example the four families I visited
purchased are rented their homes through
hatch assay ensuring they're preserved
other uses for kill Mattia include guest
houses shops and restaurants just to
name a few let's say is a 64 years old
real estate agency mainly deal with kill
Mattia we help foreign customers to buy
their own house or a future investment
and also we help we have monthly rents
all a good thing is that while it's
quite difficult to get kiamashi are
built from scratch renovating an
existing one is much simpler especially
if you're not changing the structure and
I find that sometimes the constraints
can be a creative boon where people find
such fascinating ways of designing
around and living within the limitations
given these are a group of kill Mattia
that have been renovated there are three
houses in this complex and they all have
their own unique styling as traditional
as kill matías may seem they have gone
through generations of change so you
shouldn't feel that you can't switch up
some elements
while the work is often done by local
craftsmen and used local materials the
results can lively very this tatami room
was transformed into a meditation / yoga
room with the walls covered in washi or
Japanese paper here you can see the
original wooden beams up top and some
added windows below along the stairway
an example of a choice you can make is
whether to go with hardwood floors our
tatami mats this one actually has both
in the same room and sleeping on the
floor you can do that at certain places
but western-style beds can also be had
one thing I've seen with all places is
that they choose to have modern kitchens
and bathroom facilities
to get an idea of renovations that can
be done let's start off by taking a look
at Richard and masami's house another
addition that we made this fitted
kitchen dishwasher we have these blinds
which you can bring down if you want if
you really want to cover the kitchen so
this side of machiya is really fun
actually the design phase what you want
how you want things hidden what you want
highlighted and so on so this was really
fun so this actually turns out to be
quite a quite a nice place just to sit
read a book I've we had the dream to
build up build my own sports bar in my
house
so why one of the first projects I did
and so here we have it at the matchwood
the contractor who built the house help
me find the natural inch solid piece for
the for the top so we the first upgrade
we requested before moving in was a
heated floor so I think that are fully
recommend speaking of temperature
control this seems like a good time to
address common concerns people have
about living in a kill Mattia
we were only bit afraid before because
we will afraid to be like so cold in the
winter and soft right in the summer
everybody told to me not to not to
choose a machine because it's too cold
and it's too difficult to live in but we
are much snow so winter is almost over
and we only survived the construction
you know really it's really warm in the
winter and then there's one aircon here
and when they are called upstairs and
they are heavily used just a quick note
renovated Keo matías are often upgraded
with both insulation as well as heating
and cooling equipment such as double
pane windows heated floors and aircon
units usually matías are quite dark a
new window will be here on these walls
there are a couple reasons as to why
much is on the ground level or dark one
is that they are long and narrow
townhouses which means unless they're on
a court
a lot there's no windows on the
sidewalls the second is that the front
windows are usually covered with Koshi
which means lattice they're supposed to
still let in light but it's not the same
amount that you'd get from a completely
clear window in Cecilia's case there is
no longer a building on the other side
of the wall so she can put a window in
has the latest building code since sure
a new house can never be put right up
against it again
and talking about building codes how
would a kill machi ah hold up in an
earthquake the building methods used are
the same ones that temples use which is
placing wooden posts on rocks that can
slide in the event of an earthquake
instead of trying to make the structure
stay put it instead focuses on letting
it shift despite numerous earthquakes
there are temples that have lasted
hundreds of years
that being said due to geography the
city of Kyoto hasn't historically
received earthquakes as large as other
parts of Japan I've read some recent
small-scale studies showing that the
earthquake resistance of kyo matías are
greater than previously thought but hey
I'm no engineer or architect so how do
you get yourself into a kill matcha of
your own if you are purchasing with with
cash then there are basically no problem
even as a foreigner that's right if you
have the cash it doesn't matter who you
are you can buy but if you don't there
are loans available although you'd most
likely need to be a permanent resident
to go this route my initial thoughts
were to be unaffordable but actually
price-wise it was also very surprising
how affordable they were competitive
property and say Vancouver actually
that's not too surprising the Vancouver
housing market is terribly unaffordable
but I get his point for a historical
building in a world-class City it's not
as costly as you would think in Kyoto
with Kim Matias there are many subsidies
for example if you're renovating
- to cover earth walls you get some sort
of subsidy to refurbish them also
structural you can get help from Kyoto
City now not everyone can buy one or
wants to buy one but you can certainly
temporarily stay in one whether it's as
a tourist for a night or two in a
guesthouse or perhaps as a visiting
professor who needs a fully furnished
monthly rental what I enjoyed most about
making this video was seeing how people
were connecting to the culture of Kyoto
through not only the buildings but the
craftsmen they met the traditional items
they purchased from them and the locals
they joined with to preserve
long-standing traditions one activity I
got involved with actually through a
group in a local yakitori restaurant was
the Oh Miko she it's very heavy each
shrine is two tonnes and then you
carried on two poles so now when I walk
around the community they recognize you
and they thank you for being involved
for carrying this thing is heavy so I
cut so many interesting things out of
the video like this little guy in the
roof Choki saw that protects the house
from demons
special thanks to Hachi safe for
sponsoring the video they'll help get
you into Akio Mattia whether its buying
one are only staying a night this is
actually one of those special
occurrences where having a sponsor made
the video much much better as I got
access to so many different kill matias
as well as to the kind people who let me
into their homes thanks for watching see
you next time bye
what arc traditional house is like where
you're from