There is an ancient proverb “fixtures of an old house” in Japan. It means that repairing an old house has no effort and wastes of money.

　Especially, it is easy to build a house in recent years. I think that people have avoided labor to improve an old house. They also have given up living an old house.
　Therefore an old house was forced to choose between preserving as cultural assets and pulling down. As a result, many admirable Kominka are demolished.
　At this rate, a few houses survive as cultural assets, and others are forsaken.

　It definitely must be one of the solutions for improving life quality to
abandon the superannuated and inconvenient residence and to inhabit
livable modern houses. But, is this the only best way to change for the
better life?
　When I think about this, I cannot help feeling that nobody seriously
consider and look for other way. We just take the easiest way.

　Old folk houses compare as the human body, they are entirely decrepit.
It is the same as old invalids. There is no healthy condition at all.
　However, not only to fix defects, but also it is not impossible to rejuvenate and to recover old folk houses.

　It is possible to give new energy into Kominka that already fulfilled their mission.
They could compare favorably with new modern houses’ function. Moreover, living at Kominka has distinct characteristic to be able to feel of family history and Japanese culture in your bone.

　I think that it goes over the time to discard old folk houses and the time changes to revival them as precious houses.

　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Hironobu FURIHATA