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This time we got an amazing kyomachiya of about 100 years of life, located in a small alley of Kamigyo-ku.

We definitely want to use it to connect with other people, and the possibilities are many: how to conciliate all together? This is in very short how Hachi idea has born.

At first, we have to renovate it a little. So we started by contacting the architect, the same that 20 years before has done the previous renovation.

This is the story: 20 years ago a young promising architect had been contacted to renovate a kyomachiya. It was his very first experience after just terminated the academic studies. He wasn't really conscious about the word of machiya but he felt in love for their architecture. He put all himself in this project, going deep in into any small detail and the result was so much notable that it had been published on some specialized architecture magazines.

A magazine that published about the machiya.

When accidentally we heard about this story we liked it immediately! Then a series of coincidences put us in contact with him. So we met and talk for a while, and now we are all working to a new renovation of the same machiya!

The heart of everyone is full of emotions. We all are truly enthusiastic about this project, starting from the architect himself that couldn't wish for a better chance to come back to a first love!

At the current status, the machiya is a beautiful expression of japanese minimalism. The wooden floor, in its long dark parallel planks has beautifully survived the age, keeping a charming strength as waves on the sea. The tsuchikabe walls, colored in calm tonality of yellow and red, seem still breathing alive. A small garden at the bottom of the machiya, tries to evocate the idea of a wild jungle. We don't know much about the kitchen, if and what had been in the past: at the time we visited the machiya, just a solid stone sink block has been found located in the canonical place for a machiya's kitchen. An old japanese style toilet, probably added in a later time, is still challenging the age. And a beautifully simple but solid stair leads to the second floor.

A view of the first floor.

The first time we entered the machiya we were literally impressed. We felt like we were discovering a great treasure little by little. An excitement mixed with surprise, we were like children in a delicacy shop. We started jumping febrile from a place to an other in a world made of this or that particular, making everything even more special. We have had access to a temple of history and beauty.

Then the second floor, we climbed the stairs with curious vigor: we were sure it would not disappoint us. It didn't. We were in front of a single open space divided into two logical areas. A main, originally for sleeping purpose, with a tatami tail masterfully set between a wall and a wooden decorations. A second, smaller on the side, raised above the floor level, where a second row of tatami is laying outlining a sitting area in front of the long front window.

Tatami sitting place.

Above the sleeping area, an unique decorative element is standing proudly: a roof support-like beam, decorated with a solemn and a kind of mysterious interlacing cordage. At a first look it was not much clear what it was for, so we approached it trying to guess what that element never seen before could has been, assuming this or that possibility. Until we were told what it was.

Decorated beam.

Classical elements in a canonical design of a kyomachiya are greatly mixed in a complex building of wood and ground with the magnificence of a palace. The ancient and serene atmosphere immediately put us at ease, so much that we all took a seat on the tatami mats and started chatting with the real estate agent who had opened the doors of this little underwater world for us.

After some talking, the visit had reprised but stopped again after a while to talk a bit more with the agent. Indeed, none of us wanted to leave that place despite the late hour. We sat talking for another long time, somewhere at the first floor.

The discover of this machiya flowed in an immediate love! We were willing to sign an agreement already, but we knew that sometimes is better to cool down before to decide. So we choose to mull over the experience we had, at least for a couple of days. But the next day we were already contacting the agency again. We really wanted that machiya to become part of our life.

We are grateful to the real estate agency that helped us on all the bureaucracy. Next step now is to talk with the architect about what need to be done.

We really hope to be able to start the renovation by the end of this 2021. Probably there is not much it should be done, indeed we want to do as little as possible because it's already so harmonious and every change should be well thought to do not take the chance to compromise something else.

A view of the first floor.

We guess there will be the need to rebuild the bathroom and the washroom areas, which are not remarkable but just uncomfortable to use. But very little more.

In the next meeting with the architect we will understand how far he suggest us to go.

I will keep going updating this articles as far as the renovation will be over.
By now, a great welcome to the new born Hachi!

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