Historical treasure of Matsuzaki

While enjoying some lunch at our local community centre, Kulala  we were told about an art show that was happening at a nearby onsen hotel. The event was raising money to bring the same old hotel back to its former glory. Why didn't we know about this hotel? Even my own mother-in-law who was born and raised in this town wasn't aware of it. You can guess it really spiked our interest! 

                                   

The owners of this historical hotel being the Yoda family (a descendant is my mother-in-laws school friend) originated from Nagano and dealt in charcoal, but due to feuding clans many centuries ago the family moved to the Shizuoka area. Moving with the times and with the recent doors of Japan opening up to the western world, they changed their business to silk. They grew silk worms which was a very financially viable business to be in at the time with their main business as international merchants. Hence the impressive hotel was firstly built as a family home more than 300 years ago and then an onsen hotel for 55 years before deciding to close its doors in 2014.

As you can see time has weathered this beauty but with both the support from the local towns people and a group of history professors (from a well known university in Tokyo), they have come together to maintain its future in the town of Matsuzaki, which is a real credit to them. 

While I can't be completely sure, this pathway maybe made of roof tiles that have been cut down, which I love! It's all in the detail!

Walking inside the entrance you are welcomed by these impressive beams which command your attention.

The art show was in full swing! Much to see and appreciate as we enjoyed the ambience.

A view of the ceiling. Real craftsmanship with wood panelling is present everywhere you look.

The hotel is made up of different buildings with a centre Japanese garden connecting them. But just imagine for a moment a small pond with crystal clear water flowing over precisely placed rocks and the bamboo shishi-odoshi (water fountain used to scare away deer) filling up with water and then breaking the quietness of the tranquil garden when it hits a rock. I could so imagine myself walking by this garden wearing my kimono or sitting along the terrance enjoying a class of omeshu (plum wine). The atmosphere of this place really does emit a bygone era.

Walking outside you can see the effect of weathering on this fence line that was treated with the yakisugi technique. And below an example of using bamboo for a fence. This whole hotel gave us ideas for Obachan's humble farmhouse. Presently, the hotel  is used for history students with study camps, which I think would be a wonderful experience as a student. 

It is a true example of community spirit and the desire to retain ones valuable history. We hope they will hold more events that we can support in our own small way. 

                                       

Source: Onsawa Onsen ~  Matsusaki, Shizuoka

Leveling Out

We have finally started on a major part of balancing the house out. What am I talking about you ask? Well the little old farm house was seriously needing some leveling out. It was on a lean.......

The main part of the house seems fine but we are guessing from the constant flow of water running past it and through the land, it has caused the house to sink over time. It also hasn't helped that the wild boars in the area have been digging up the land in their search for small crabs causing it to become water logged. So we peeled back the tin covering on the side of the house and discovered that termites had also been at work on the wooden stumps!

It basically just flaked off! This is one of the hollow stumps that we found, truly scary!

This whole support beam was a goner!

So we set to work to remove the termite ridden parts and then replaced them with new stumps. As you can imagine it took some time to measure out things and then fit them into place. 

And the end result are these concrete stumps which are typically used in Japan on houses like Obachan's era. Both concrete stumps and wooden blocks have been screwed together and I am assured that this is standard practice! 

This particular picture reminds me of a woman's skirt blowing up in the wind!  You'll be happy to know that the tin was nailed back down, but the idea is to replace it down the line with timber siding which is more in keeping with the rest of the house. Now that this part has been completed we are now able to work on the inside where the new kitchen is going to be and we can't wait to get moving on it.  

Creating an old time vibe

Have you ever lived in a place that had an element that drove you crazy, but because of maybe time and budget you just never got around to remedying it but often complained about it? You know what I mean, like  a squeaky floorboard or door; a window that stuck or in our case an old light fixture with a low cord that hit you in the head each time you walked past it!

The day we tackled this project was the best day! I can imagine that long ago when Obachan lived here she had no problem with hitting her head with the light bulb because she was very petite. In any case it was time for a serious upgrade!

We removed and replaced all the old fittings (after turning off the main of course!).

And replaced the old with the new! This light bulb is currently for sale at Ikea.

I must say that it doesn't give a whole light of light, but I was going for looks! You know that old time vibe with the pull cord. Love it!

So there we have it. This little "intersection" area with its sanded floor boards and now new lighting can really shine.....well just a little.

Can you see that white wall above? Well, we are brainstorming ideas at the moment as to whether we knock it out as it leads into the "to be" kitchen area. You see its a mud wall and on the other side we discovered once we had pulled back the vinyl board that the wall is crumbling. Can't wait to share more of what's been happening in the kitchen area with you. It will certainly be a great before/after project on the little farmhouse. Stay tuned....!

Hedge no more

Many, many years ago this pathway was actually the main street that cars drove up and down past Obachan's house. We are guessing that with all the cars and people going by this hedge was used as a screen. That was until the local council decided to close over the stream flowing on the other side of the farm house to create a road. There was therefore no more need for this hedge in our opinion.

Time and water logged shrubs have caused this hedge to look as it does now. Ugly right!?

So we set to work and started digging up the roots but they weren't coming out without a fight! 

One more stubborn tree and we were done!

What a job! I'm here to say we did it and it looks so much better, but that onsen was calling our names.

The next phase is to.....balance things out. I'll show you what I mean next week!

Namakokabe - Community Spirit

I want to share an experience I never thought I would ever do while living in Japan. I love namakokabe on any building I see and I also love how it is preserved and maintained on many houses and community buildings.

One Sunday afternoon after we had eaten lunch at the local community centre and were walking back to our car, we saw all these men standing up on scaffolding.  

Initially I was consumed with excitement and then just mezmorised as I watched how this traditional design was being applied. All this time I thought the white crisscross lines were applied to large black slabs, but in actual fact they are just black tiles.
  

Here is the  tiler applying the tile and then....

....here is me applying the white grout!

I still can't believe it!  I could have grouted the whole wall if they had of given me some prior notice, but we were heading back to Yokohama. However, I'm here to say it was fun!

Then my treasure gave it a go and he was hooked too!

So there you go a cultural experience I never thought I would be involved in and because it was to maintain the community information centre in town, it made it all the more meaningful for us.

Sadly it was time to leave Izu and head back to Yokohama but.....

......here is the building all finished a couple of weeks later! And we were part of maintaining its history in Obachan's little town!

My oh my...what do we have here?

This project has been a long time coming. Have a look at this post here to see what we started with after more than ten (10) years of being left alone. The extension area was originally built for extra sleeping when family came to stay. The original kitchen sits at the back of Obachan's but it's pretty dark and we wanted to capture and enjoy the sunshine and bbq's at the front of the house. So it was time to transform this room into the new kitchen.

Extension area-  right-hand side with aluminum doors

So we started lifting up the old carpet which was laying over the top of tatami mats which were very old. We are going to recycle the tatami mats outside in the garden, which I will share in another post when we do. We are all about recycle here at Obachan's!

Behind the laminate panelling we found to my delight, wooden boards.

We also found a crumbling mud wall, which we are thinking of removing to make a door way that connects to the main tatami area.

Now comes the messy work and a scary discovery......

What did we find........?

.............but a giant killer bee nest!!!

Apparently, you can sell these things for a sum of money because they are considered lucky! Any takers?! A strange but interesting discovery was that the nest was full of leaves. Maybe after the bees moved out, something else moved in.

We had to saw the nest off which was pretty secured to the timber ceiling!

My oh my! Something we weren't expecting in our ceiling.

Another baby one was found nearby, but its occupants had abandoned it.

So we pulled up old carpet and tatami, found and removed a killer bees nest! I think with all  the dust and dirt we deserve an onsen tonight!