しつらい—a house built 170 years ago in the mountains south of Osaka

Staying the night in an old sake brewery being renovated into a community space.

Whilst in Japan recently I had the incredible fortune of staying in a very special house that our friend bought and is in the process of slowly renovating. In this letter I'd like to share the story of the house and the project as I think it's incredibly inspiring (and is secretly something I wish I could do with my own life one day!).

A few years ago, one of my wife's closest friends — Nabe chan — bought a house from the owner of a local sake brewery in Arida-shi, Wakayama. Just south-west of Osaka & Kyoto. The owner of the house, due to her advancing age, was no longer able to tend to the property and so put it on the market. It's an enormous place with heaps of land and it was easy to see why she struggled to keep it going. The gardens alone were enough for a whole life's worth of work.

The house is around 170 years old — from the Edo era in Japan — and was in quite a state when Nabe chan bought it. But she was under no illusion; she knew this would become a life project of hers. There is talk of her eventually turning it into a guest house with an art gallery, event space, possibly a cafe etc. It's both a deeply inspiring building and project.

What's mad though, is that she bought it for an incredibly low price of ¥8,000,000 which is about £40,000 GBP / $50,000 USD.

The journey up to the house was a particularly treacherous drive up a mountain in south-western Osaka. We made the trip at night and when we arrived it was so dark that we could barely see what was in front of us. Nabe chan met us at a local supermarket so that we could drive up the mountain together in some sort of presidential convoy. She wanted to make sure we were safe on some of the twisty parts up the mountain. For an uncomfortably large amount of the journey there was no barrier between the road and a very deep and very sudden drop(!).

Upon arriving we just about managed to breath a sigh of relief before being taken aback by a sky full of stars over our heads. It dawned on me that I couldn't even remember the last time I actually saw a sky full of stars! As we took in the beautiful scene, a firefly floated on past. Welcoming us into this beautiful place. It was like something straight out of a Ghibli movie. We suddenly found ourselves in an incredibly special moment which was a feeling that would remain for the entire stay.

In its prime, many people used to live in this house. The owners who ran the sake brewery were its main occupants of course, but the workers also lived here. It's the reason why there are hundreds of bowls packed into boxes in the plethora of storage rooms dotted around the house. Below is a photo of just some of the bowls Nabe chan has found. Even now, two years after buying the house, she’s still stumbling upon the previous owners' items in the various outbuildings on the property. It's quite common in Japan that when you buy an old house, it will be full of personal belongings from the generations who lived within the house before you. Often because the previous owner has passed away or is too unwell to clear it out and it becomes the responsibility of the new owner to decide what to do with those memories.

One of the more interesting items left in the house was a 「 harmonica tansu 」which is a chest of drawers that has a very unique addition to a single drawer. It is fitted with a small harmonica-like device that plays a note whenever the drawer is pulled out or pushed in. It turns out these drawers were used in the Meiji era for crime prevention. Important documents or items like keys could be kept inside and the theory is that you'd be able to hear if someone was trying to steal from you. Incredibly beautiful! There's an article about them here.

Wakayama is an area that is famous for mikan; a type of sweet orange with origins in China. It's said that if you find a mikan tree growing on your property in Wakayama you're not allowed to cut it down. Because of their importance, you must keep it alive. But growing a mikan tree is hard work — they need regular pruning to allow ample sunlight to hit the fruit. Apparently, the sweetness of the fruit can also be affected by the amount of water given during the summer months. Looking out from the verandah over the valley below, I could see fields full of mikan trees. Their orange dots scattering the canopies. Apparently the iPhone's camera is not so great at picking up these orange dots!

We spent a wholesome evening around the dinner table, cross-legged on the floor sharing food, laughs and stories. It was a moment I’ll forever be grateful for. During my time in the house I reflected a lot on the fact that my wife has a large group of creative friends here in Kyoto and they're all doing incredible things. But with absolutely no phoniness or desperate striving to be famous or to make tonnes of money — just pure and humble creativity, no matter what craft they’re engaged in. I wondered if this is the Japanese way.

In the morning we woke up to the beautiful calls of the Uguisu bird ringing out over the valley. It’s one of my favourite birdcalls for sure. We spent a bit of time exploring the huge grounds outside, and had a coffee on the verandah whilst our friends got to work on covering some of the wooden beams in the roof with persimmon seed dye which keeps insects at bay and helps to stop rot and mould due to its antibacterial properties.

We walked around the garden talking about what Nabe chan can do to tame the years of neglect. There’s a heck of a lot of work and she's finding it difficult to do alone whilst still holding down her full-time job but I have faith she'll get there slowly. It really is a life project.

Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to be able to stay here for 3 months, help tidy up the garden and spend time writing music and these letters. Wouldn't that just be perfect?

Until such time that I can return again, I'll be here in London, trying to retain as much of the peace I found in that beautiful house as possible.

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SJF