It was from the Taisho Era until the beginning of Showa that such houses called "civilized housings" were constructed. It's the Western-style house you see in the movie called "Of Human Bondage." It's generally described as a Japanese-style house with one Western-style room attached by the front entrance. From outside, it looks European only at the part of the Western-style room, which is tall like a tower, and the rest appear to be Japanese; I heard that many of such kind of houses have both styles--the Western and the Japanese--intermixed. It reflects a life style from the Meiji era that a wealthy person used to hold both Japanese-style and Western-style houses at once, and had a daily life in the Japanese house while using the Western one to treat a guest. In other words, probably, if the Western-style part is not being conspicuous as if to say "Here is a Western-style house," there'd be no meaning in building the house for the owner. I imagine that it's a design to express the owner's status of being able to hold a Western-style room.

Now, the movement aiming to create an ideal housing for the middle class has been coming about in a variety of forms from the end of the Meiji Era toward the Taisho Period. In a sense, we can say that the westernization of housing was progressed at that time. Because of the increasing number of what we call salary men, educated workers, a necessity for building houses for them arose, and thereby a residential district was developed in the suburbs. Denenchofu, which is now considered as an exclusive residential district, was also one of the areas developed by a railroad company. Then lots of small Western-style buildings were constructed. Moreover, with the housing reform movement as well as the publication of a magazine to spread the idea, there was a movement aiming to promote a western way of life style. There also was a company making a specialty of handling Western-style buildings for small-scale housing. I heard that there was an exhibition with a theme "Home" having full-sized houses being displayed. It's said that the group of full-sized houses on display at an exhibition held by Tokyo Prefecture was named "Civilized Village," and consequently, those houses that have been built there were also called as "civilized housings." The name originally referred to a family-centered house where an efficient and convenient life style is available with such things as electrical products, but now it simply indicates only the characteristics of the external appearance that I mentioned at the beginning.

Well, now that we had enough reviewing, I'm going to talk about a walk.

First of all, there is the Yanashita house that Yokohama City is planning to repair and open to the public. I heard that after being completed in Taisho 8, it's been under a series of extension work and reconstruction. It is a palatial mansion. It hardly comes with an image of "civilized housing." Considering that the word "civilized housing" itself is going alone and causing people to have the impression that it's a tenuous house, I realize that language can be cruel. It's now under construction, and a master carpenter is working on it. At a parking lot, which is also under construction, there is a stone-built wall, and a person who works for a company having its center in Yokohama and taking an active part in its special field of city planning/construction/landscape gardening acts as my guide from the very beginning and explains "I heard that it's quite valuable" to me. There are two ways to enter the house; either from the front entrance or from the kitchen door. At first, I try walking toward the back door. There are lots of trees growing thickly. It's said that many big trees have been planted without proper plan and overgrown as a result. There is a bathroom behind the kitchen door. Looking in at the window there, I see a fancy ceiling. It looks as if it were the ceiling of a bathhouse. Making the complete circuit of the house, I get to the front entrance. It's a large Japanese-style house with its roofing tiles overlapping each other. The front entrance is rather magnificent, and I heard that it was used only to welcome an important guest. I go into the house, and see that there is a long passageway all over the house. Looking from a point of view at the present time, I'm not sure if it's really a comfortable house to live. For a family managed only by a housewife without a housemaid, it's absolutely far too spacious to keep living for a long time.

The ceiling in the bathroom

Now, the Western-style room, which is the main point, is attached to the right side of the entrance. From the outside, the room looks Japanese but is European inside. It resembles a structure of an apartment at present having a tatami-floored room next to a wooden-floored room, and while the door between the two rooms looks to be made of wood on the side of the wooden-floored room, it looks to be fusuma, a Japanese-style sliding door, on the tatami-floored side. Of course, the door is a sliding door. Though it's a Western-style room, the door is not tall. It's said that this house as a whole has been made based not on the metric system but on shaku system to begin with. Both the wall and the ceiling are made of plasters. There is s little work being done at a part of the ceiling. As going upstairs, I see the sunlight streaming in through the window, which is longer than is wide. The part where the diamond glass of those days is still remaining is glittering beautifully. By looking out of the window at the back, I see a storehouse there. It's quite interesting to be able to enjoy the sight of a Japanese-style storehouse from the Western-style part of the house. The storehouse has already been cleared out, and some furniture that were decided to be disposed of are separated from others (they also used to be placed in the house) that will be used in the house from now on. As I entered the storehouse as being careful of the hole on the floor made by a carpenter, I felt a sense of security peculiar to storehouse. It's the air that is cool but gentle as if to wrap around things as well as human. Of course, as it's a gorgeous house, it has a garden. And, there is a pond in the garden as well. At the pond, there is a stone turtle for some reason. The eyes of the turtle are somehow a bit angry-looking. I wonder why.

The ceiling of the Western-style room

The house I visited next was a house owned by an individual. The owner is a praiseworthy person who is opening the house to the public so that such people as artists and volunteers can make free use of it. This house too has a long passageway entirely around the house. As I pass through a maids' room and go up the stairs, there is a room that is comfortably warm. It's facing toward the south and thereby getting a lot of sunshine. Also on the second floor, there is a passageway that looks like a verandah. Because a surface of the room is completely covered with glass, the gentle sunlight must be shining into the room nicely and warmly by opening a sliding shutter especially in winter. One of the people taking part in the tour is even trying lying at full length. The room is certainly as comfortable as that. This house also has a Western-style room. There is one by the side of the entrance. It's a high-ceilinged room with wooden floor. A stuffed turtle being placed is making the room even ore fantastic. The window is of course longer than is wide, and a diamond glass that I saw also at the Yanashita house is fitted into it. I heard that this room was also used to treat a guest.

The turtle in the garden

Currently, there is a movement aiming to preserve this kind of housing. Such house has been in use for as long as seventy or eighty years already while a house of the present is often reconstructed only in twenty or thirty years. The people promoting the movement argues that there is a reason for it, and that such housing can be a good guide with many useful information to the construction of houses at the present. In order to achieve their aim, I heard that they are not only carrying out research to preserve the housing but also providing "Support activity to keep living in the houses" for the residents. It's a very interesting activity. Finding a small "civilized housing" in a town alone can make me feel happy. Having a sweet charm, it's totally different from buildings constructed by a country or company with its dignity. Because it's a property of an individual, it's up to the owner what to do with it, but still, it's sad to see such kind of housings disappearing one after another. So I'll be paying attention to this movement that puts a stop to such sad trend. If possible, I'd be not only paying attention but also participating in it.

Translated by Maiko Noda