Shukei Jigyo Inherits Craftsmen's Techniques, Focusing on Restoring Old Houses and the Townscape


								English / Japanese

Earthen walls, kawara tiles, thatched roofs, wood... At one time in the towns and villages of Japan there was a wonderful culture of craft techniques using feng shui and the craftsman who made use of them.
Now that nostalgic scenery is vanishing bit by bit. Let's do what we can before that flame goes out. Thinking of this, I founded the Bunkajigyobu (cultural projects) and Shukei Jigyo (townscape beautification projects) corporations in 2004.
Bunkajigyobu is a company where people use their minds and bodies thinking of lifestyles and culture.
Shukei Jigyo works on carrying on craftsmen’s techniques centered around restoring the townscape and traditional Japanese houses.
　The "soft" (cultural events and activities) moves quickly and the "hard" (buildings, gardens, townscapes) slow. We move forward keeping both the short and long term in mind and practice.

Obuse is a town of 12,000 people in Kita-Shinano, but every year around 1.2 million tourists visit. But why do 100 times the number of people living here come all the way to visit this small town every year? It is probably because of Obuse's rich traditional atmosphere with its earthen storehouses, earthen walls, old houses with thatched roofs, and so on.
What maintains this atmosphere is the craftsmen's techniques passed down in this region from far before the Edo Period. Earthen storehouses that stay sturdy even after 100 years pass. Impressive wooden frames peeking out from beneath thatched roofs. I think that Japanese craftsmen's techniques truly are a thing to be prided throughout the world.
However unfortunately in the Obuse of today these traditional techniques are dwindling away. Even though so many modern keywords such as sustainability, regional recycling, natural materials, and lifestyles gentle to the earth can be linked to them... Before the war, craftsmen also filled the role of designers. The people that actually did the work with their hands designed the entire project. But after the war, designers were designers and craftsmen were craftsmen, splitting their functions in two. The people who carry on Japanese traditions became disconnected from new work.
The Shukei Jigyo Corporation wants to once again link these two parts together. We want to be able to do things now the way they could be done in the past. We will find traditional houses fated to be torn down and repair them, move them, or restore them. We re-thatch straw roofs and bake kawara tiles ourselves with clay from the local area. In that way a new value emerges from the buildings we work on, and we create a new townscape that supports the economy as well as people's hearts.
Something old is not necessarily something inconvenient to be put up with. Skills that make use of people's knowledge are very enjoyable. Because they are enjoyable, while working ourselves we plan on passing those skills on to the next generation.

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