A Fisherman Abode

I feel like I'm toying with the cosmic order posting about this particular exhibit out of order. Ahahah... After all, this exhibit is located right at the end of the trail one need to walk through at Shikoku Mura. Anyway, here's a fisherman's home for you!

A fisherman's house facing the Pacific should be sturdy and this house has a stone fence on the sea side serves as a windbreak and the narrow entryway is to minimise and keep out rain and wind.

This dwelling was in an isolated fishing village strung along the base of a cliff in the Izari region of Tokushima prefecture.

 Son making himself comfy while Mommy checking out the place.

Functioning to provide complete shelter in the frequently foul weather the area faced, the house has a low roof to reduce wind resistance and is covered with heavy tiles (hongawara).

The baked clay entrance and adjacent bamboo floors are designed for the return of the fisherman; dripping wet in their fishing gears.

The central or "Good Fortune Pillar" (daikoku bashira) is unusually massive. All lumber throughout the house was handshaped by adze.

The waters of Izari were once filled with yellowtails (buri) which is a much favoured eating fish. 

A sad reason for this house came to Shikoku Mura in its original condition was because the villagers had no funds to renovate their houses. The villagers in the community decided to increase their catch by buying a huge net like in commercial fisheries. After the net was bought, the yellowtail left the feeding ground of Izari and moved elsewhere. The villagers were saddled with huge debts that they could not pay off and the town went bankrupt leaving fishermen without funds to renovate their houses.

A Stone Bridge And A Stone Storehouse

More of Shikoku Mura exhibits. This time its the stone bridge and a stone storehouse.

The arched bridge was built in 1901 by Yonekichi and Yojiro and has a carp and a Chinese lion dog (karashishi) carved on the keystone. This is the only bridge in Japan to bear such design.
 

Traditional Japanese storehouses have mud clay walls finished with plaster. However, during the Meiji Period (1868 - 1912), brick contstruction for commercial buildings was promoted by the Government in Tokyo.This particular storehouse copies brick construction, substituting stone of a variety used for over 1,000 years in mausoleums. The floor inside was laid with brick.

Altogether, the storehouse is a rather interesting hybrid of East & West typical of Meiji period.

Judging from the storehouse, one can sense that a storehouse is waaaaay more important (seeing that it's clay/brick made) than a personal dwelling. After all, one's source of income are stored there. Got to protect those from the elements and from predators too (human and beast alike). No?

A Master's Home and A Place Where The Elders Can Retire

I've been going on and on about the exhibits in Shikoku Mura, haven't I? Bear with me. I just find them very interesting and felt it's a pity if I can't find a reason to put each of them in a post here.

A residence of Master Kume Tsuken, an intellect, inventor and entreprenuer which was built in the late 18th century. In his life, Master Kume helped develop the growth of salt making in Sakaide where his house was located. He also invented naval cannon, pistols and an air-circulating fan. 

When the house was disassembled for its move to Shikoku Mura, various navigational instruments and molds for casting cannons were found  in the attic. Interesting, eh?

Two homes and a work storage belonging to the Nakaishi family was the next exhibit that we saw. These buildings, like many of the exhibits in Shikoku Mura; came from Ochiudo Mura, a refuge village originally established by survivors of the vanquished Heike clan in the late 12th century. 

It was long a custom in the region to build  a smaller, extra house as a retirement retreat for family elders and this was the etiquette of the Nakaishi Family.

The houses are arranged side by side on a space saving narrow terrace just like it was in the mountains except for the fact that the ones in the mountains would have the back of the houses right against the slope.

Coming up next - an official storehouse, a granary, an arched bridge, a stone storehouse, a border guardhouse and lastly a fisherman's house. Not too long before I wrap up my lenghty posts on Shikoku Mura and move on to our visit to a really beatiful garden - the Ritsurin Koen.

A Home That Used To Sit 1,000 Metres Above Sea Level

can be found at Shikoku Mura, donated by Eitaro Shimoki. The house's original location was at the highest point of the mountain village of Itchuson Kijiya, 1,000 metres above sea level.

In the entrance-work area are a clay threshing floor and a mortar for hulling wheat and barley. The clay oven  and pot was used for boiling a teburous root to make konnyaku.

Talking about hulling, here's a hut with a water driven mortar for hulling rice. Cool, right?

Such device was still used in Shikoku to hull rice up to the 1950s! By the way, it's a pity that we somehow missed taking photos of the interior (and the mortar inside) of this hut. Ah well...

By the way, have you read my rather rambling posts on a few other exhibits in Shikoku Mura?
A few homes here and here. A place where they made sugar and drink tea here. Paper was made here. The path you can take to walk around the open-air museum here. Lighthouses and the keeper's home here.

A Place Where They Make Paper

This is a bark steaming hut (kozo moshigoya), among one of the exhibits you can find at the open-air museum, Shikoku Mura. The hipped ridge roof is thatched with reeds. Reeds over bamboo frames are also used for its walls. There is a reason for the huts to be built with reeds. It is plentiful in the region compared to clays. Also, it provided better ventilation.

Tosa (modern day Kochi) was known as one of the best papermaking regions in Japan and this hut came from heart of the region.

The first step to making Japanese paper was to steam the outer bark from the paper mulberry (kozo). 

The bamboo barrel that you see hanging in the photo above would be lowered over a bubbling cauldron filled with mulberry branches to form an efficient steam box. Anyways, remember my post about a farm house of the Kono family? They owned a bark steamer too. Right beside their living area!

If you ask me, those bubbling cauldron looked like a torture device. Heh heh

The next step was to remove the white inner bark, pound it into a paste and float it in trays of water to form sheets of paper which were then drained and dried.

Cute photo of son (if I say so myself) for size comparison reason. hihi

Handmade Japanese paper (washi) is famous for its strength and durability. It contains no chemical and as a result it won't discolour or decompose with age. 

Way back when, Japanese merchants kept records with the washi and the accounts books can be thrown into a well in case of fire (or if you ask me, to hide precious record from being seized too) and be retrieved later without any damage. How ingenious!

I do seem to go on and on about the exhibits in Shikoku Mura, don't I? Bear with me, please.

I just feel that those exhibits are so interesting on their own that most (if not each) of them deserve a special post about them. Individual or being grouped. Also, learning a bit of background about them makes me appreciate things that I take for granted in modern daily life. Paper in this post. Sugar in previous post.

A Lighthouse And Its Keeper's Home

Found where else? At Shikoku Mura, of course. My fifth instalment of my Shikoku Mura posts. More up soon. I think...

Anyhoo, if you haven't read the previous posts on Shikoku Mura, do click on these links:
Glimpse of common people dwellings
Encounter the traditional face of Japan
Family home of olden time
The trail

OK, now back to the post today.

This is Okunojima Lighthouse (Okunojima todai). Okunojima is a small island, just 4KM in circumference and located just offshore from Takehara City in Hiroshima Prefecture. It was built in 1893 and was first used on May 15, 1894. 

During World War II, Okunojima Island removed all maps of the area for security purposes. It survived the war and continued to be in use until 1992 when it became structurally obsolete.

This was the lighthouse keeper's home.

The interior of the lighthouse keeper's home of Cape Isaki with its Western style furnishing. Lighthouses and lighthouse keepers' houses were built by British architects back then.

There are a number of lighthouse keepers home at Shikoku Mura - from Nabeshima, Cape Esaki and Kudako Island.

The houses are stone built but the interior differ between those which were built at early Meiji period and at later period. The latter is notable for its Japanese style rooms that came with closets.

and what is this? An ofuro?

I did look for the loo (you know I can't resist doing that). Found and used one... of the modern type, with tap water. There's a toilet here up on the hill for those needing a loo break. ahahah

The Trail

When you visit Shikoku Mura, expect to walk a lot - up hills, over streams and through forests. A beautiful scenery awaits you at Shikoku Mura; with beautiful flower gardens, bamboo forests, Japanese maples and a water garden. 

We visited Shikoku Mura during autumn and was treated to a rather spectacular autumn scene. 

Feel calm and serene while strolling through the bamboo forest. The place provided artificial sound of boars and streams to further enhance your tranquil experience there. I'm suspecting that the sounds of birds chirping merrily there was artificial too. But hey! Better that than an absolutely eerie quietness. After all, we got Shikoku Mura all to ourselves that day. Imagine that!

Yup, you can hear boar sound when you pass the wild boar fence (shishigaki). This particular fence is from Mito Peninsula of Shodo Island. Stones were fixed in place with mortar mixed with pine needles.

 You go up sometimes

and you go down sometimes. 

Be warned. Those with mobility issues will have a bit of problem getting around Shikoku Mura. My Mom for example, would not like it if I bring her here. Too much walking and climbing! Kids however, will have a merry time running around. Just ask Raimie.

We admired a bit of these

and a whole lot of this

and this.

If we just stroll dutifully following the course, it would probably take us about 45 minutes to finish visiting the place. But why hurry when you can stroll, stop, see, touch and savour the place and atmosphere slowly? I think we were there close to 3 hours.

3 hours well spent and ending our visit at the adjacent gift shop. Would love to try the food at the restaurant there, but the place was packed!

Family Homes Of Olden Time

exhibited in the open-air museum; Shikoku Mura provided us insights on how Japanese people (Shikoku people specifically) lived long ago.

The first home was posted in my previous post. A home donated by Yamashita family.

This one is the Kono family home.

The house was built in early 18th century deep in the mountains of Ehime Prefecture, this farm dwelling measures 39 feet long and 21 feet deep. (By the way, it's funny that when it comes to house sizes, I am more comfortable using square feets instead of square metres despite us using the metric system for everything else. Houses area are usually advertised is sq ft instead of sq mtr here too. Why is that, I wonder?)

Two thirds of the house are devoted to two living/sleeping rooms, each with their own hearth (irori no ma). Coarse straw mats provide comfortable seating comfort on the bamboo floors around the hearth. The other one-third of the home is clay-floored work/storage area and entrance way.

This particular home even has a bark steamer for papermaking. How cool is that?

After seeing these homes, I am so thankful for modern day living and homes with provide plenty of privacy!