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UPDATE: Saturday, June 12, 2010      The Japan Times Weekly    2007年2月24日号 (バックナンバー)
 
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MODERN KYOTO
Restoring tradition to the old capital

By ALEXANDER JACOBY

"Even in Kyoto, I long for Kyoto"

So runs one of Basho's most famous haiku. The poet meant to convey the inexhaustible charm of Japan's ancient capital. But today's visitor to Kyoto longs for a Kyoto of the past. Spared wartime bombing in recognition of its cultural importance, the city has been transformed in subsequent decades. The temples remain. But in the city streets, wood has given way to concrete, and the slatted rows of machiya town houses to skyscrapers.

But Kyoto's historic beauty might yet be re-created. I second the opinion of Mark Peter Keane, chairman of the non-profit organization Kyoto Mitate International. He hopes for a "revitalization through which old machiya are restored and, more importantly, new ones are built."

To date, with the exception of a few preservation areas such as the Gion district, most attempts to preserve Kyoto's heritage have focused on protecting individual buildings. In 2003, the municipal government established a fund for citizens who wished to preserve their homes. But this approach relies on action by individual owners and takes no account of the desirability of preserving the atmosphere of whole streets and neighborhoods. Similarly unsystematic has been the process of attrition as owners of machiya die and high inheritance taxes put pressure on heirs to sell them to developers.

Thus, the 30,000-odd machiya that remain in Kyoto are scattered, separated by modern office blocks and shops, so that the integrity of particular areas has been lost.

Many admirers of the historic Kyoto lament that redevelopment has been so thorough that little remains to preserve. But machiya can be rebuilt. Much of Japan's modern architecture has not been built to last. Kyoto might implement a cyclical program of restoration: as the concrete buildings of the '60s, '70s and '80s reach the end of their natural lives, they might be replaced by newly built machiya. Important historical areas could gradually be reclaimed by traditional architecture.

Some will argue that this would be inauthentic. But these new machiya would be erected alongside original ones, and the combination would display a stylistic integrity currently rare in the city. There are precedents in Europe. The old town of the Polish capital Warsaw, largely destroyed during World War II, has been rebuilt to the original plan. Even in Kyoto, historic temples have been reconstructed -- most notably, the Golden Pavilion, destroyed by arson in 1950. This policy should be extended to domestic architecture.

There remain obstacles. Legislation would be needed to permit the erection of new buildings in wood. This is prohibited because of the danger of fires and earthquakes, so careful planning -- strategically placed firebreaks, for instance -- would be vital. But there are indications that such a project would now command popular support.

Modernization in Kyoto has always been controversial. The building of the Kyoto Tower in 1964 provoked widespread protests. Yet through much of the postwar era, advocates of preservation have been a minority. Many felt that the destruction of the city's architectural traditions was inevitable as lifestyles changed. Kyoto's citizens elected municipal governments committed to modernization and supportive of the insatiable construction industry.

But attitudes are changing. In 2004, a questionnaire circulated among Kyoto residents by staff at Ritsumeikan University showed that 80 percent of respondents wished to preserve the city's traditional buildings. In the same year, a project was initiated to preserve machiya through "securitization," investors pledging money to buy and repair older houses in the expectation of a dividend. And it would seem that machiya are becoming desirable again, not merely as tourist attractions, but as homes. According to the Asahi Shimbun, the average monthly rent for a traditional house in the city center doubled during 2005.

Considering the widespread destruction of the city's heritage, writer Alex Kerr despairingly commented that "Kyoto hates Kyoto." But Kyoto is rediscovering its civic pride, and the residents of the old capital may yet prove him wrong.

The Japan Times Weekly: Feb. 24, 2007
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