My apologies … I haven’t given this blog and website the care they deserve. Also, I’ve received a lot of attempted spam in the blog (which I’ve blocked of course).
I intend to soon move the website (minka-ichiku.com, nokosokai.org) to another hosting service and set up a new blog. I’ll try to keep the blog up-to-date, and hope for comments from others.
Please be patient.
In the meantime, here’s a link to a short documentary film: Minka.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin has two articles about minka and an article about “recycled” minka.
Only a little while after publishing his personal book on minka, and John Roderick is gone.
AP Legend John Roderick Dies at 93
The Guardian Obituary: John Roderick
More photos
I haven’t finished Minka: my farmhouse in Japan yet … so I’ll just point to a review.
John Roderick has published Minka: my farmhouse in Japan, which gives the story behind Yoshihiro Takishita’s first minka. I’m just starting to read it, but I’m already prejudiced in its favor – by the book jacket that evokes a hand-tinted photograph, and by the excellent typography. For a bit of background on the author, see the Japan Times article. You can read the first chapter online.
This picture comes from an article about travel between Kanazawa and Shirakawago, with more pictures: Japan Times Friday, Jan. 11, 2008.
A letter to the Los Angeles Times about the Replanting Farmhouses article says:
My nephew lives on Sado Island, off the coast of Niigata prefecture. He has a master’s degree in architecture and has been interested in preserving ancient farm homes on Sado.
While visiting there last year, I learned that farmers who wish to move into more modern houses do not want to destroy their old farm homes, which are like shrines to their ancestors.
The farmers rent out the homes inexpensively as long as tenants keep the structures in good condition.
The Economists’ “more intelligent life” magazine has an article on “the perfect cup of tea”. The picture has a guy in the desert with a shaved head, dressed in red, doing something with a thermos jug. The article talks about a gizmo for making the perfect cup of tea.
But it’s good to see an appreciation of fine tea: “over the past 16 years, tea-sales in the United States alone have grown from $1.8 to $6.5bn, with the largest growth in the high-end and specialty sectors.” (Although the author is a bit confused about green tea: it’s not “lightly fermented” but rather “lightly steamed”.)
Anyway, this reminded me of Omotosenke’s website, and its article on tea rooms and other aspects of traditional Japanese architecture (Omotosenke is one of the three main schools of tea in Japan). Although tea rooms might seem to be very far from traditional country architecture, the tea rooms often evoke a rustic quality. And Takishita-san has incorporated them into some of his reconstructed minka.
http://www.omotesenke.jp/english/chanoyu/4_0.html
It’s past time to revise the website for minka-ichiku.com. After all, the book is in its third printing, but the website hasn’t changed much for a few years.
To start things off, here’s a recent article in the Los Angeles Times: Replanting Farmhouses. It’ll go into the articles page.
