Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Miyama Kita Village: Folklore Museum

Friday, 11th April, 2014.

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Miyama-Kita village is about 60km north of Kyoto. The village was designated a Japanese cultural heritage site in 1993, because of its traditional untouched scenery and its 38 thatched-roof houses, all facing the same direction, on a gentle slope.   The original framework of the Folklore Museum was built about 500 years ago in the Edo period.  The building was destroyed by fire in 2000, but restored as a museum in 2002.

The roof is very steep so the heavy winter snow will slide off.

We arrived just before the museum closed for the day.

 

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An Edo period style bath.  

 

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Traditional woven household goods.

 

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More woven household goods.

 

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Carol in the attic, where you could see the inside of the thatched roof up close.

 

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Chisa and Akiko in the attic.

 

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Traditional household and farming implements.

 

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The animals were kept inside in winter.

 

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So thongs weren’t invented in Queensland.

 

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As the museum is closed for the day, the step is swept with a traditional short-handled Japanese broom.

You can see three different layers in the thatch.  The materials used are hemp, rice plant and thatch plant.

 

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Chisa under the eaves.

In the past, when people cooked with a wood-burning stove every day, the smoke from the fire helped preserve the thatch by killing the insects that lived in it, and the thatch would last for 40 to 50 years.

Today, wood fires are no longer used, and the life of the thatched roof has been shortened dramatically.  There is only one professional roof thatcher in the village, but he has seven young apprentices working for him, so the people of the village are confident that this tradition will be preserved for future generations.

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