Customer Reviews

Japanese Country Style: Putting New Life into Old Houses

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Enjoyable reading. The author lovingly describes how he relocated and remodeled a selection of traditional Japanese farm houses that otherwise would have been destroyed. The descriptions of each house includes anectodal notes as well as beautiful photos of the houses interiors & exteriors. Thank goodness there are people who are interested in preserving a nation's cultural heritage.

I bought this book after reading John Roderick's book 'Minka' which came out in September this year. 'Minka' is all about the loving restoration of a 200 year old Japanese farmhouse. Having been fortunate enough to live in Japan for 3 years from 1997 til 2,000 and having visited several minka while there,I loved this book for its inspirational delivery. That book then lead me to this next book 'Japanese Country Style' because it is written by the Japanese architect/art dealer who was responsible for moving the original minka in the first book. It shows all the minka he has been responsible for lovingly rescuing, restoring and adapting to modern day living requirements. I am planning a trip to Japan specifically to visit some of these wonderful buildings. They have spirit and beauty.

This book is about restored old farm houses in Japan. The focus is not on the technicality of architecture, but on the finished results. There are several pictures in the book. For some reason I don't find the pictures particularly inspiring. So don't use this book to get interior design ideas. The key part of the book is the pictures. The text is not very interesting because it is mostly focused on background data.

You should also note that the book is a combined English Japanese edition. This means that you get both English and Japanese text.

If you want a more social account of the Japanese house I would recommend The Inner Harmony of the Japanese House.

Very nice book with many examples of traditional rural Japanese homes including minka and gassho styles, timberframes and lots of tatami. Many of the homes are traditional with modern infusions, and may have furniture. If you are designing a new home, there are many excellent ideas displayed throughout the book. There are also many architectural schematics, and the text is presented in both english & Japanese.

I also recommend "Japanese Folkhouses", by Carver, which I prefer between the two.