Kyoto, Japan’s capital of traditional culture, is one of the few Japanese cities that was spared from the bombings of World War II, yet every year scores of 'machiya' are destroyed, victims of neglect and urban redevelopment, thus rapidly erasing the traditional urban fabric. Many of them can still be seen in the Gion district and they came to be regarded as one of the typical traditional structures which characterise the ancient city of Kyoto. These wooden houses, where merchants and artisans both lived and worked, provided a space in front for a store, in the middle for family quarters with small garden, and in the rear for workshops and warehouses. Machiya are already depicted on 17th century screens and they were still built during the Taisho period and beyond until about 1936. Kyoto 'machiya' are traditional townhouses with distinctive Kyoto-style latticework doors and slatted second-story windows (fig. In contrast to the 'minka', which are farmhouses, fishermen's houses and mountain dwellings, the 'machiya' is a merchants' and craftsmen's town-house, specifically in Kyoto, also often called 'kyo-machiya'.
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