Hello from Kyoto!

[Stuart]

To get things started!

I live in an 1810 minka in the mountains north of Kyoto City.

At the start of 2016, I had no plans to buy a minka and knew next to nothing about them, but the wife and I thought it might be a good idea to buy an inexpensive farmhouse in the mountains that we could, with our daughter, spend weekends away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and the rest of the time maybe rent it out as an AirBnb.

Though my wife had lived in Kyoto since junior high school age, none of us had ever been to this corner of rural Kyoto before, and I was immediately dazzled. When we view the minka for sale, dilapidated though it was, for me it was love at first sight. And when I realized the price not only for the house but also 300 tsubo of land would cost about the same amount of money as a BMW, I jumped!

In the nine years since, I regret nothing. I LOVE living here. It has been a great experience, for my daughter especially, and a wonderful learning experience for me, being the custodian — I hesitate to use the word “owner” — of this historic minka. I love the clean air, clean water all around me, the ever-changing nature. And I sure don’t miss city traffic!

Whether you have your own minka or are looking or just considering, we want to hear YOUR story, so please consider posting here!

[Alistair]

Hi Stuart,

I believe I’ve seen your home in video and in photos in the past but I’d love to see more here. Why not post something with your story?

Thanks for all your hard work.

I look forward to meeting you eventually. With your love of Minka and film, I’m sure we’d have much to talk about.

Alistair

[Stuart]

Yes, let’s get together!

As for my story, it’s really not all that exciting or unusual, other than 1) I ended up buying the first minka I looked at; and, 2) I knew absolutely nothing about them prior, a testament that, if I could buy and nicely renovate a dilapidated minka into something beautiful, absolutely ANYBODY can!

(photo from about a month ago)

[Alistair]

Haha! Nice roof!!

Actually, what tiles did you choose when you redid your roof?  I like these.

We are retiling shortly and have been looking to replace them with exactly what we got with the house. Yours look pretty slick….

a

[Stuart]

No new tiles. In the snow-covered roof photo, the part under the snow are the original clay tiles, but everything above that is tin. We didn’t replace them, just had the rust scrubbed off and repainted.

[Ryan]

Did you have an engineer or some kind of expert have a look at the structure with regard to earthquake safety?

[Stuart]

No. As you may know, that’s generally not done during the process of considering buying a property in Japan.

I figured the house, having been built in 1810, has withstood its share of earthquakes, typhoons, etc., and it’s still here, so….

Those that built it knew what they were doing, and where to put it.

[Author]

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