Wooden house and alleyway of Kyoto

Japanese have been famous for their house design for years. Whether you are an architect who designs a house by drawing it manually or drafting it with BIM software, when you design an earthquake resistant house, you need to learn more about Japanese wooden house. The style of the house is simple. Its construction does not have rounded wall. Most of the walls are straight ones with partitions from thick white paper. Temples have rounded or curved roofs. The floor is covered with special mat made of rice straw and dried woven grass called Tatami. When we walk on the Tatami, we will feel that these Tatamis are soft. The tatamis are aligned on an arrangement that forms T joints and not the Cross joints.

an alleyway in Kyoto

If you are interested in learning how Japanese build and arrange their houses, I recommend that you visit Kyoto. It is a traditional city of Japanese empire. NHK, a state owned TV station, frequently aired programs about that city, one of them is about the alleyway of Kyoto. There thousands of alleyways in Kyoto. They are narrow and bring neighbors closer. We cannot drive car through narrow alleyways. If we want to pass through them, we need to walk or ride bicycles.

People must respect their neighbors' privacy by not playing music too loud. They have sushi bars and café where neighbors sit together to share stories and experience. I think one day I have to go to Kyoto to see how the style and design of the Japanese wooden house. Besides the wooden house and the alleyway that fascinates me, the public bathroom is also something unique in my own perspective. It is where Japanese take a bath. The public bath is divided into two main rooms, one for men and the other for women.

So, if you plan to go abroad this spring, maybe you can put wooden house and alleyway of Kyoto as your next travel destination. You won't regret if it is your choice. by Charles Roring