Japan’s Clay Walls: A Glimpse into their Tradition of Plastering (Emily Reynolds; CreateSpace, 2009)
Just Enough: Lessons from Japan for Sustainable Living, Architecture, and Design (Azby Brown; Stone Bridge Press, 2022)
The Lumber Industry in Early Modern Japan (Conrad Totman; self-published? 2009) English and Japanese
Videos
Minka – A Farmhouse in Japan (Documentary short based on John Roderick’s book)
Channel: Seek Sustainable Japan with JJ Walsh
Channel: Tokyo Llama (Minka Restoration)
Websites
Japan Architect. A helpful site that also has a useful dictionary
Bartok Design Co. The ever-smiling Iacopo Torrini and his beautiful traditional wood baths been a fixture of Minka Summit since our first event in 2022. He writes, “I am an Italian architect living in Japan since 1998. I began exporting hinoki tubs in 2003. Our tubs are produced with hinoki wood from the Kiso Valley (Nagano Prefecture).
Heart Country Stove. A great resource for wood stoves and chimney installation by experts experienced with minka.
Heritage Homes Japan began in 2019 and has relocated and restored a number of large kominka from Gifu and Niigata to Hakuba and Niseko, and operates a full-service construction, renovation, architecture and real estate firm.
Tokyo-based Hideshina, a company specializing in minka components, from repurposed minka timber (from joinery beams to flooring and shutterboards), antique doors and lamps, traditional tools and tansu.
An organization “total support” for people considering emigrating from their urban environments into new, inaka lives in the Japanese countryside, Iju House Project‘s services include consultation, new construction and renovation.
For many, organic farming is a big incentive to minka living. And no organization in Japan is more passionate than Minka Summit 2022 guest speaker Chuck Kayser’s Midori Farm, which offers farm stays, lectures and more!
One of the few traditional thatched-roofing companies remaining in Japan, the Miyama Thatched Roof Co., Ltd. is dedicated to passing down traditional thatching methods to younger generations and cultivating the age-old relationship between thatched minka roofs and agriculture. Their efforts include rethatching more than a dozen homes annually. (website Japanese only)
Miyama Wood Engineer is a maki (wood) stove company specializing in minka installation. (website Japanese only)
At Mokkei home cooks can exchange recipes and pass on traditional knowledge, food professionals from around the world can share their talents through events and workshops, and visitors can experience deep local culture during intensive retreats and private tours. We are both a community space for our local friends and neighbors, and an entry point for exploring Yamanaka’s rich craft and foodways.
A model education center and demonstration site furthering sustainable practices, knowledge and community, Permaculture Center Kamimomi hosts regular workshops in natural building and Permaculture systems, including a year-long course in no-till organic rice cultivation, and intensive courses in Japanese Timber Framing, Japanese Plastering and Dry Stacked Stone Walling. We frequently have guest instructors from around the world and teach in Japanese and English.
Passing Japanese living culture to posterity, Shimamura Yoshi Shoten was founded in 1902 as a business selling the phragmites that grow in Lake Biwa as roofing materials and bamboo blinds. For the past 40 years they mainly sell components from dismantled minka in Shiga Prefecture while supporting relocation and regeneration of minka and the sale of surviving material. (Japanese-only website)
A design/build carpentry firm based in Okayama run by carpenter and 1st class licensed architect Kohei Yamamoto, SomaKosha runs on the foundation of a question that inspired Yamamoto; “Why do we not build all wooden structures to last centuries or perhaps longer like the temples and shrines?” To that end, SomaKosha is one of the only firms in Japan that builds exclusively traditional post and beam on stone without anchoring the building to a foundation. With partner and carpenter/designer Jon Stollenmeyer, SomaKosha is focused on bringing Japanese traditional, safe, comfortable, beautiful, and ecological building anywhere in the world.
A construction company that also teaches traditional Japanese carpentry, Suikoushya offers one month-long classes taught by an active shrine carpenter, as well as courses on-line. “a place for people who share the same ambitions, and a place for people who share the same appreciation for things ‘as it is,’ as exemplified by the Zen proverb ‘Willows are green, Flowers are Red.’”
Architects Mélanie Heresbach and Sébastien Renauld‘s ever-evolving minka and farm was a must-see stop on the 2022 and ’24 Minka Tours, and since then their exquisite restorations have included removing the tin covering of their minka’s roof and restoring it with thatch they farmed themselves and installed with the aid of traditional thatch roofing specialists. You can see more examples of their spectacular work at their 2M26 website
An architectural design and construction company based on the eastern edge of Aichi Prefecture, Toda Komuten dates back to Taisho Japan, when the great-grandfather of the current president began working as a carpenter. Their work includes remodeling and renovating minka, an area in which they are especially passionate.
JAANUS (Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System). A great site for minka terminology explained!