Machiya are traditional wooden townhouses found throughout Japan and typified in the historical capital of Kyoto. Machiya (townhouses) and nouka (farm dwellings) constitute the two categories of Japanese vernacular architecture known as minka (folk dwellings). Machiya originated as early as the Heian period and continued to develop through to the Edo period and even into the Meiji period. Machiya housed urban merchants and craftsmen, a class collectively referred to as chounin (townspeople). The etymology of the word machiya reveals its two parts: machi meaning “town”, and ya meaning “house” or “shop” depending on the kanji used to express it; either one is equally acceptable.
Kyoto machiya
The city of Kyoto was originally laid out in a gridlike pattern, modeled after the Chinese Tang dynasty capital Chang'an. The typical Kyoto machiya within that grid was a long wooden home with narrow street frontage, stretching deep into the city block and often containing one or more small courtyard gardens or tsuboniwa. The front of the building served as the retail or shop space, generally having sliding or folding shutters that opened to facilitate the display of goods and wares. Internally the machiya would be split between the kyoshitsubu, divided rooms with raised timber floors and tatami mats, and the doma or toriniwa, an unfloored service space that contained the kitchen and also served as the passage to the rear of the plot, where storehouses known as kura would be found. The plot width was an index of wealth, and typical machiya plots were only 5.4 to 6 meters wide, but about 20 meters deep, leading to the nickname unagi no nedoko, or eel's beds.
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