Houzz Tour: A Classic Japanese House Built With Summer in Mind
Traditional architectural forms like a dirt-floor ‘doma’ put this weekend home’s owners in touch with nature
This property used to have only a small shed for storing farm equipment or taking a quick break. The owners spent most of their time in Tokyo, taking a train to the countryside town of Tsuchiura on weekends to work in their field. In time they realized that they wanted to be able to stay here overnight, so they went to the open house of Atelier Kiraku, a local construction firm that specializes in wooden buildings. Traditional Japanese wooden homes were built with good airflow in mind, and since this was at the top of the couple’s wish list, they commissioned one from architect Takuya Iwase.
The single-story house consists of a kitchen, living room, Japanese-style bedroom with walk-in closet, pantry, loft, bathroom and doma, the transitional space defined by the hard-packed dirt floor. The house has a gabled roof in order to let as much sunlight as possible into the northern field. Its long eaves protect the cedar walls, window frames and doors while blocking the bright summer sun and helping keep heat in the dirt floor in the winter.
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The bathroom is just to the left of the entrance. Its door and cypress bathtub were made by the same craftspeople. The ceiling is lined with cedar boards. A small garden with local plants is visible from the window.
Here the owners can enjoy a relaxing hot bath with aromatic cypress incense, accompanied by the soothing sounds of insects and the rustling of leaves.
Here the owners can enjoy a relaxing hot bath with aromatic cypress incense, accompanied by the soothing sounds of insects and the rustling of leaves.
The dirt floor continues from the entrance toward the home’s central corridor. The latter is paved with a Japanese tuff stone, which is notable for its texture: It is full of small holes but has a smooth, scratch-resistant surface. The stone’s gray color unobtrusively separates different zones within the open space.
This corridor guides fresh air through the home and toward the southern garden. The house was built around this passageway, with the living room to the left, and a kitchen and a Japanese-style bedroom to the right.
This corridor guides fresh air through the home and toward the southern garden. The house was built around this passageway, with the living room to the left, and a kitchen and a Japanese-style bedroom to the right.
The cedar boards that make up the living room floor are just over 1½ inches thick. The craftspeople often receive requests for this substantial kind of flooring since it absorbs moisture and heat well, and is comfortable to walk on barefoot. They have a close relationship with the local sawmill and are able to get quality materials.
A wood-burning stove, a writing desk and bookshelves take up one corner of the open space. Even a calligraphy brush moves more easily when the writer can enjoy the refreshing aroma of grass carried in on the wind!
Browse freestanding stoves
A wood-burning stove, a writing desk and bookshelves take up one corner of the open space. Even a calligraphy brush moves more easily when the writer can enjoy the refreshing aroma of grass carried in on the wind!
Browse freestanding stoves
The kitchen and the area to the left of the central passageway have a hard-packed dirt floor that contains local decomposed granite and cement. In Japan, it is customary for both guests and owners to remove their shoes when entering the house. However, shoes may be worn in the doma.
In this house, therefore, the kitchen is part of the doma so that the owners can prepare the vegetables they’ve harvested without having to remove their shoes. This again follows Japanese architectural tradition, as historical doma spaces often incorporated a cooking stove.
The stainless steel counter and sink resemble a farmer’s workbench in their simplicity. The kitchen cabinets are made of wood. The owners bring out a folding table and chairs to eat their meals, including vegetables they have grown themselves.
In this house, therefore, the kitchen is part of the doma so that the owners can prepare the vegetables they’ve harvested without having to remove their shoes. This again follows Japanese architectural tradition, as historical doma spaces often incorporated a cooking stove.
The stainless steel counter and sink resemble a farmer’s workbench in their simplicity. The kitchen cabinets are made of wood. The owners bring out a folding table and chairs to eat their meals, including vegetables they have grown themselves.
The bedroom opens to a veranda and features a walk-in closet at the back. The owners selected the walls’ calming colors.
Iwase likes his clients to realize that the construction of a home starts in nature where the trees are felled, so he goes out of his way to give them some hands-on experience. He made arrangements with the logging company to let the owners choose and cut down one tree that best fit their vision of the house. They selected a 97-year-old Japanese cypress, which was made into the home’s ridge beam, pictured at the top right of this photo. It is supported by two square pillars, each 8¼ inches thick. A skylight illuminates the pillars, beams and kitchen, and helps hot air escape the home.
“I want my clients to experience the construction process from the very first step so that they can learn about tree felling and carpentry techniques,” Iwase says. Ninety percent of the structure is made of wood grown in Ibaraki Prefecture, and the remaining 10 percent was processed elsewhere in Japan.
The owners wanted a simple tree garden to the south of the house, so an arrangement of small, mainly deciduous trees was designed by Yoshimi Kikuchi, a student of famed Japanese landscape architect Kenzō Ogata. “This garden makes you realize that if a tree feels comfortable, it gives that comfort back to you,” says one of the owners.
There is a rain barrel in the garden, and a larger water tank in the field. The owners use rainwater on a daily basis.
Houzz TV: How to Install a Rain Barrel
There is a rain barrel in the garden, and a larger water tank in the field. The owners use rainwater on a daily basis.
Houzz TV: How to Install a Rain Barrel
The soil floor helps retain the heat generated by the wood stove. In winter, the owners humidify the space by sprinkling the tuff floor with boiling water. In summer, they pour water outside to make the wind passing through the house more refreshing. Little tricks like this help them live comfortably.
They also keep possessions in the home to a minimum, preferring a clean, minimalist aesthetic.
They also keep possessions in the home to a minimum, preferring a clean, minimalist aesthetic.
This is what the house looks like from the field: It melds into its surroundings.
“It was built with a combination of age-old methods. It is a mix of elements put together in a way that is sensible for this piece of land, environment and way of living — and that’s what made this possible,” Iwase says.
“It was built with a combination of age-old methods. It is a mix of elements put together in a way that is sensible for this piece of land, environment and way of living — and that’s what made this possible,” Iwase says.
Next to the house is an area with stacked firewood on the left, a shed for farm equipment on the right and a space for washing harvested vegetables in between.
An excellent bit of artisanal handiwork, this house embodies the ideal of simple beauty. Bringing together the environment, time-tested construction techniques and life lessons allows its inhabitants to live at one with nature.
More home tours: Apartments | Small Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | All
An excellent bit of artisanal handiwork, this house embodies the ideal of simple beauty. Bringing together the environment, time-tested construction techniques and life lessons allows its inhabitants to live at one with nature.
More home tours: Apartments | Small Homes | Colorful Homes | Contemporary Homes | Eclectic Homes | Farmhouses | Midcentury Homes | Modern Homes | Ranch Homes | Traditional Homes | Transitional Homes | All
Who lives here: A married couple with a child
Location: Tsuchiura, Japan, 47 miles northeast of Tokyo
Size: About 960 square feet (89 square meters) on a lot of about 2,420 square feet (225 square meters)
Designer: Takuya Iwase Architect & Associates
Builder: Atelier Kiraku
Having visited the property regularly for a decade, the couple wanted to be able to spend more time here, working in the field when it’s sunny and reading books under the roof when it rains. The owners told the architect they wanted a house that’s as plain as possible — essentially, an extension of their shed.
The house is the embodiment of old Japanese ideals. Iwase remembers the couple citing a passage from a 14th-century Japanese work titled Essays in Idleness by Kenkō Yoshida: “A house should be built with summer in mind.” They also mentioned the word doma, which literally means “dirt floor” but also refers to a transitional indoor-outdoor space, in their written request multiple times. They clearly envisioned a house that would be at one with the surrounding nature.