MINKA TOURS AT A GLANCE

Friday, April 19th: Miyama Kayabuki no Sato

11:45 - 16:00 (Departure and return times)

Each way – 42.5km / 58 minutes / Easy Roads

Saturday, April 20th: Kuta Village Excursion

9:00 - 12:30 (Departure and return times)

Each way – 18.8km / 33 minutes / Moderate Mountain Roads

Sunday, April 21st: The Roots of Minka

9:00 - 12:30 (Departure and return times)

Each way – 4.1km / 10 minutes / Easy Road

Sunday, April 21st: Minka à la française

9:00 - 12:30 (Departure and return times)

Each way – 14.3km / 21 minutes / Easy Roads

Minka Tours – Minka Summit 2024 – OVERVIEW

Minka Summit 2024 will be offering Minka Tours a little differently from past Summits. This year, the following excursions are planned:

Friday, April 19th, 11:45 - 16:00 (departure and return times): Miyama Kayabuki no Sato

On Friday, April 19th, the first day of Minka Summit 2024, we will be offering a special excursion to Miyama Kayabuki no Sato, a hamlet consisting of 39 (!) thatched-roof minka, homes owned and lived in by villagers. Take a leisurely stroll through this gorgeous cultural heritage site, which includes cafés, traditional inns, a museum, and even a traditional indigo dye shop/museum.

Saturday, April 20th, 9:00 - 12:30 (departure and return times): Kuta Village Excursion

A small village with just 78 residents (down from nearly 500 in 1949), Kuta is a small mountain district north of Hanase, known for its mild summers and harsh winters, so remote it is said members of the Heike Clan escaped to there. Our visit will include the thatched-roof minka of Osamu Tsunemoto, in an area famous for its large fields of purple chrysanthemums; the Ikiki Center, a museum of traditional carpentry tools; and the minka of former Kuta resident Gwyn Helverson. 

Sunday, April 21st, 9:00 - 12:30 (departure and return times): The Roots of Minka – A Tour with 9th Generation Lumber Company President Hisaya Furuhara (Option A)

Hisaya Furuhara is a 6th generation lumber merchant and has been running Hanase Sawmill, the last lumber company in Hanase, for 40 years. The Furuhara family originally felled trees to make handmade charcoal and sent the wood downstream to central Kyoto. Since the Meiji period, wood has been used to build everything from houses to temples and shrines. For this tour, he will discuss the wide variety of wood that grows on the vast grounds owned on his estate, including cedar, pine, zelkova, and cypress, which are used for various parts of minka construction, and will also provide an explanation of the sawmilling process at his company. He will also discuss efforts to replant native trees in the area to replace the post-war proliferation of cedars, a project to grow lumber that will last 400 years, and create sustainable forestry. We are really looking forward to having Mr. Furuhara, who lives in Hanase, participate in this year's Minka Summit!

Minka à la française – Natural Restoration of a Thatch-Roofed Minka by 2m26 (Option B)

A visit to the minka of architects Mélanie Heresbach and Sébastien Renauld. Their minka was a very popular stop on the 2022 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 themselves farmed and installed with the aid of traditional thatch roofing specialists. Photos they’ve posted on the Kominka Japan Facebook page have positively dazzled, and we’re honored they’re allowing us to bring Minka Summit guests to their home and explain the process and their philosophies about rethatching. In the meantime, you can see more examples of their spectacular work at their 2M26 website.