this short film captures the beauty of a 175 year-old japanese house

nestled into the mountains of nakatsugawa in japan, ‘kawaue residence’ was first built between 1845 – 1848. originally serving as the home of one of the historical families of the village, it recently underwent a full restoration to become a rentable holiday home for short stays. in these two videos shot by kuroyanagi, the architecture of kawaue residence and its beautiful surroundings have been captured throughout the changing seasons.

the restoration design was undertaken by keitaro muto architects in 2019 – 2020. alongside a team of specialists who helped restore the traditional architecture and carpentry using mostly wood, mud and paper. the floor plan stays true to the original layout 175 years ago. guests who rent the residence can enjoy spacious rooms and views looking out over terraced paddy fields and the kiso mountains. to find out more about the kawaue residence you can visit the booking website here. 

project info:

project name: kawaue residence

location: nakatsugawa city, gifu prefecture, japan

restoration design: keitaro muto architects

construction/carpentry: yamashichi kenchiku koubou （山七建築工房）

sakan work (mud walls): tsuchikabe shikkui-ya ohta （土壁漆喰屋おおた）

paper items/web and overall advice: econosys design

centerpiece furniture in the doma: yu uchida

lighting advice (doma area): TAS WORKS inc.

legal advice: adriana lezcano schellenberg

movie: kuroyanagi

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: lynne myers | designboom