Over the last few years, there has been such a wonderful movement to reclaim the beautiful historical townhouses known as Machiya in cities like Kyoto, Kanazawa, Kuroshiki & Takayama to give them new life as either private residences or boutique accommodation. Originally the home & shopfront of artisans & merchants (which is why you can only find these houses in certain cities), the buildings are characterised by their narrow front windows (which is where the business was originally - they were made narrow, as in the past; the shop owner had to pay taxes based on the size of their the shop’s front) and long, deep rooms going far back in which the family would reside.

Buildings are only considered Machiya if they were built before 1950, and if they are torn down, they are not allowed to be rebuilt. So, no ‘brand new’ machiya exist in Japan, all that exist in active use have been renovated & restored.

Down a tiny (and I mean tiny - I nearly missed it) side street in one of my favourite areas of Kyoto (yeap, you bet Karasuma area in Nakagyo ward) is this lovely sweet Machiya that has been painstakingly restored and so beautifully decorated with various Japanese antiques and gorgeous warm wood interiors with colourful tiles. Sometimes I don’ t know what kind of interior decor style I like more… modern Japanese simplicity… modern luxury…traditional Japanese …. Taisho Roman antique era… it’s all so fabulous and hard to choose!

It’s also 1 min walk from a favourite lunch spot of mine AWOMB (tho I believe Kyoisuke may have a special relationship with them, that you can get private catering for breakfast, maybe dinner too?), roughly ~16mins walk from my favourite soba restaurant, Honke Owariya and about 22mins walk to the sweet book cafe, Cafe Bibliotic Hello!

With Kyoto sightseeing, one can enjoy a slow walking meander to spots like Byodo-ji, Nishiki Market, Chohoji, the quirky Face House, Mikane-jinja (the famous gold money shrine) and Nijo Castle all within an hour (give yourself a morning/afternoon to leisurely explore, have some lunch, afternoon drink etc)

Their biggest Machiya, Hokomachi can sleep up to 10 people, with 3 bedrooms ( 2 Japanese tatami & 1 Western) and two fabulous ofuro baths - one open air & one indoor (not onsen, but bring or buy some onsen salts with you, and you will have the most relaxing time). I do love machiya and kominka stays for larger groups of friends, families and especially if perhaps on some days/nights you may be sick of eating out, and just want to enjoy the feeling of cooking at home and feeling like a local.

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