The Land of the Rising Sun is amazing; everyone will find a corner to their liking, be it modern Tokyo or traditional Kyoto. When everyone is in charge tourist routes passed, it's time to go to the Japanese wilderness. In this post we will talk about the village of Ainokura, a fabulous valley of gingerbread houses.
2. High green hills reliably protected the picturesque villages of Shirakawago and Gokayama (the settlement of Ainokura belongs to it) from prying eyes for many centuries. Thanks to the development of road infrastructure and domestic tourism, historical villages hidden in the inaccessible mountainous areas of Gifu and Toyama prefectures (Honshu Island, Japan) have become known beyond native land. In 1995, the charming villages were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
3. About a three-hour drive from the popular tourist city of Takayama (Gifu Prefecture), a ten-minute walk up the hill, and you have a view of a small valley. It's so quiet here that you can hear the wind howling and the grass swaying. Tiny rice fields of rich green color, tall pine trees and a whitish haze covering the village in the late evening - in Ainokura the eyes rest, the mind clears, and the body is saturated with oxygen. The air here is so clean that it makes you feel dizzy out of habit.
4. Farmhouses are built using the traditional gassho-zukuri technique for these areas. "Gassho" literally means "hands folded in prayer" - the two steep slopes of the thatched roof symbolize the palms of the monks.
5. Not a single nail was used in the construction of the houses. Wood and straw in the hands of the Japanese turned into reliable and durable materials: houses withstood the harsh climate and outlived the great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren of their creators.
6. It’s humid here in summer, waist-deep snowdrifts in winter, and the huts last for 200 and 300 years.
8. In the village of Ainokura there are 23 houses made using the gassho-zukuri technique.
10. Locals lead subsistence farming and eat mainly what they grow.
11. The hostess complained to me that it was difficult to get carrots - they ordered from the city. But everything is fine with watermelons.
12. Eating vegetables from your own garden is simply wonderful, but you can’t earn money for your children’s education just from your garden. That is why enterprising farmers converted their houses into museums and cafes, and some even began renting out rooms to tourists.
13. In Ainokura there are 6 houses whose owners are ready to let a stranger spend the night. Rooms are in great demand - you have to book in advance, and sometimes much in advance (depending on the season).
14. A night in a house with a thatched roof will cost 8,000-10,000 yen (5,000-7,000 rubles per person) and will give you the opportunity to walk around the village when the last tourist bus leaves it. The fee includes not only a bed in a separate room, but also two meals a day (dinner and breakfast). The Goyomon house where I stayed is over three hundred years old, and the descendants of the original owner still live in it.
15. Inside each traditional hut there is a spacious hall with a square hole in the floor exactly in the middle. This room serves as a living and dining room - the household and their guests sit around the fireplace on thin pillows.
16. Residents of Ainokur every day make a fire at home, fry fish on coals and boil water in a cast-iron kettle suspended on a massive chain.
17. A typical dinner here consists of boiled vegetables, pickles, charcoal fish, tempura and river fish sashimi, which is always accompanied by a bowl of rice. All vegetables, with the exception of carrots, are grown here. Fish caught nearby.
18. A light breeze rushes in through the open window, and you sleep very sweetly, the way you once slept in your native Russian village, where you were also fed food from the garden and told old fairy tales at night (and completely free of charge).
19. Early in the morning, a dense fog spreads around the village, and only the yellowish tint of the grass hints that the sun has risen.
24. The kettle swings over the smoldering coals, and breakfast is waiting on a small table.
25. The morning menu includes a bowl of rice, an omelet, fresh and stewed vegetables, tofu cooked in broth and pickles.
26. After a hearty breakfast and saying goodbye to the hospitable hostess, your feet themselves carry you up the hill, from which you can see the valley.
27. The landscape is soothing; you don’t want to return to the metropolis at all. Like any other village, Ainokura is inevitably aging. Youth is drawn to big cities, and in the “valley of gingerbread houses” only pensioners remain.
28. Having boiled in the capital’s cauldron, the children of Ainokura will certainly return here. The purest mountain air, tasty and healthy food, your own home with a long history as a source of income is not life, but a dream. And I can only hope that the meeting with the fairy-tale village was not the last.
Ainokura Village (Japanese: 相倉, English: Ainokura)
How to get there (it's a long way):
It is advisable to combine a trip to Ainokura with a visit to Shirakawago (Japanese 白川郷, English Shirakawago), the largest historical village in the area
There is a local bus from Shirakawago (40 minutes, 1300 yen one way) to Ainokura (stop called 相倉口、Ainokuraguchi)
There are two typical routes to Shirakawago from Tokyo that are popular among tourists as they pass through picturesque cities full of attractions: Kanazawa and Takayama
1) Via Kanazawa (Kanazawa/金沢）
Bullet train from Tokyo to Kanazawa (about 14,000 yen one way, about 3 hours travel time), from there by Nohi Bus to Shirakawago (1850 yen one way, just over 2 hours travel time)
2) Through Takayama/高山）
Bus from Shinjuku to Takayama (6690 yen one way; 5.5 hours travel time) from Nohi Bus, from there by bus from the same company to Shirakawago (2470 yen one way; 2.5 hours travel time)
Going through Takayama is much cheaper, but almost twice as long.
There is another option to get through Nagoya, in terms of money and time it will be almost the same as through Takayama.
Japan - amazing country, visiting which a tourist will certainly gain a lot unforgettable impressions. Here you can admire picturesque rivers, bamboo forests, rock gardens, unusual temples, etc. Of course, many large modern cities have been built in Japan. But part of the population of this country, like probably any other, lives in villages. Japanese country settlements in many cases have retained their unique character to this day. National character and style.
A little history
The Japanese islands began to be populated by people back in the Paleolithic era. Initially, the inhabitants here were engaged in hunting and gathering and led the first settlements in Japan arose in the Jomon era - around the 12th millennium BC. At that time, the climate on the islands began to change due to the formation of the Tsushima warm current. The inhabitants of Japan switched to a sedentary lifestyle. In addition to hunting and gathering, the population also began to engage in fishing and animal husbandry.
Today, Japanese villages are often home to many people. But it was not always so. Initially the number of inhabitants on the islands was very small. However, in the 13th millennium BC. e. People from the Korean Peninsula began to actively migrate here. It was they who brought the technologies of rice cultivation and silk weaving to Ancient Japan, which are still actively used today. The population of the islands increased by 3-4 times in those days. And of course, many new settlements arose in ancient Japan. At the same time, migrant villages were much larger than those local residents- up to 1.5 thousand people. The main type of housing in Japanese settlements in those days were ordinary dugouts.
From the 4th century The process of establishing statehood began in Japan. During this period, the culture of the islands was greatly influenced by Korea. In the country then called Nihon, the first capital of Nara was founded. Of course, Korean villages were also actively built in those days. They were located mainly around the capital, as well as in the valley of the Asuka River. Dugouts in settlements at that time began to gradually be replaced by ordinary houses.
Wars
Later, by the 8th century, Korea's influence gradually began to fade away and the Japanese rulers turned their attention to China. At this time, a new capital was built on the islands, in which up to 200 thousand people lived. By this time, the formation of the Japanese nation itself had been completed. In the 8th century, the emperors of the country began to gradually conquer the forested territories of the aborigines, some of whom still led an almost primitive way of life. In order to strengthen their positions in these regions, the rulers forcibly resettled residents of the central part of the country here. And of course, new settlements began to emerge in these places - villages and fortresses.
Ancient way of life
The type of activity of the Japanese has always directly depended on their place of residence. Thus, residents of coastal villages were engaged in fishing, evaporating salt, and collecting shellfish. During the conflicts with the aborigines, the population of forested areas was subject to military service. Residents of villages located in the mountains were often engaged in breeding silkworms, making fabrics, and in some cases, producing gunpowder. On the plains, settlers most often grew rice. Blacksmithing and pottery were also practiced in Japanese villages. Between settlements of different “specializations” at the intersection of trade routes, among other things, market squares were formed.
The rhythm of life in Japanese villages was almost always calm and measured. The villagers coexisted in complete harmony with nature. Initially, the Japanese lived in communities in fairly large settlements. Later, of course, detached estates of the nobility began to appear in the country, surrounded by a fence.
Modern village
Outside the city, of course, some Japanese still live today. There are also many villages in this country nowadays. The rhythm of life in modern suburban settlements in Japan today is mostly calm and measured. Many residents of such settlements, as in ancient times, grow rice and engage in fishing. Silk is still made in mountain villages today. Quite often, the Japanese in small suburban settlements even today live in communities.
Is it worth a visit
Residents of the villages of the Land of the Rising Sun, judging by the reviews of tourists, are very friendly. They also treat well foreigners who come to visit them. Of course, tourists don’t visit remote Japanese villages too often. But some settlements that have existed since ancient times still attract the interest of foreigners. In such Japanese villages, among other things, the tourism business is well developed.
Judging by the reviews of travelers, modern country settlements in the Land of the Rising Sun look very beautiful and cozy. In Japanese villages, flower beds bloom everywhere, spectacular shrubs grow, and rock gardens are laid out.
How houses were built in the old days
One of the peculiarities of Japan, unfortunately, is frequent earthquakes. Therefore, since ancient times, a special technology for building houses has been used in this country. In Japanese villages, only frame residential buildings have always been erected. The walls of such buildings did not bear any load. The strength of the house was given by a wooden frame, assembled without the use of nails - by fastening with ropes and rods.
The climate in Japan is quite mild. Therefore, the facades of houses in this country were not insulated in ancient times. Moreover, in such buildings there was always only one main wall. Between the sheathings it was stuffed with grass, sawdust, etc. All the other walls were just thin wooden sliding doors. They closed at night and in cold weather. On warm days, such doors were moved apart and the residents of the house were able to coexist in complete harmony with the surrounding nature.
In ancient times, floors in Japanese village houses were always raised high above ground level. The fact is that the Japanese traditionally sleep not on beds, but simply on special mattresses - futons. Spending the night in this way on a floor located near the ground would, of course, be cold and damp.
There are several styles of Japanese ancient buildings. However, all houses in this country share the following architectural features:
large cornices, the size of which can reach a meter;
sometimes curved corners of the slopes;
asceticism of the exterior.
The facades of Japanese houses were almost never decorated with anything. The roofs of such houses were covered with grass and straw.
Modern style
Today in Japanese villages (you can clearly see this in the photo) only frame houses are still built. After all, earthquakes happen quite often in this country even today. Sometimes in villages in Japan you can see frames built using Canadian technology, which has become widespread in the world. But most often houses here are built according to local methods that have been developed over centuries.
The walls of modern Japanese houses, of course, are lined with fairly strong and reliable materials. But at the same time, spacious, bright terraces are always built next to such buildings. The eaves of Japanese houses are still long.
Floors in residential buildings in villages are not raised too high these days. However, they are not being developed on the ground either. When pouring slab foundations, the Japanese provide, among other things, special ribs, the height of which can reach 50 cm. Indeed, even today, in village houses, many Japanese still sleep on mattresses.
Communications
More than 80% of Japan's territory is mountainous. And laying gas pipelines on islands is often simply impossible. Therefore, in most cases, houses in villages in Japan are not gasified. But of course, Japanese housewives in such settlements do not cook in ovens at all. Blue fuel in villages is obtained from cylinders.
Since the climate in Japan is not too cold, there is no central heating in houses here. During the cold season, residents of local villages heat their premises using oil or infrared heaters.
The most beautiful Japanese villages
In the Land of the Rising Sun, as already mentioned, several ancient villages have been preserved, worthy of the attention of tourists. For example, very often antiquity lovers visit Japanese villages called Shirakawa and Gokayama. These settlements have existed in Japan for several centuries. In winter, the roads leading to them are covered with snow, and they find themselves completely isolated from civilization.
Many residents of these villages are engaged in silk weaving and cultivation of rice and vegetables. But the Japanese living in these settlements receive the bulk of their income from the tourism business. There are cafes, souvenir shops, and shops of various specializations here. Some residents of these Japanese mountain villages also rent out rooms to tourists.
The settlements of Shirakawa and Gokayama are famous, among other things, for the fact that houses built in the gassho-zukuri style are still preserved here. The peculiarity of these frame buildings are low walls and a very high, usually gable roof, under which there are another one or two floors. The houses in these settlements are covered, as in ancient times, with grass and straw.
Japanese village of Mishima: how to move
Japan has one of the few settlements in the world where new settlers are invited to live in exchange for money. The village of Mishima is located on three islands southwest of Kyushu and is experiencing a labor shortage. Mostly pensioners live here. Young people prefer to move to cities.
To revive the local economy, the village community took an original decision to attract new young and hard-working residents. All Japanese citizens, as well as long-term residents of this country, are invited to move to Mishima for a fee. For several years, the settlers are promised to be given a large monthly allowance (about 40 thousand rubles translated into domestic currency) and to be provided with a free cow.
People from other countries, including Russia, can also move to the village. However, foreigners unfamiliar with Japanese culture can only be allowed into the village if the community elders deem it possible.
I could sit in one place for the whole month in Japan and remain just as happy. But I decided: if I’m going to travel, I need to plan everything so that the trip is as varied as possible. That’s why Takayama ended up on my route: firstly, these are the mountains, and secondly, these are the houses of Gassno. There were a few other places to go from Takayama, such as the famous Shirakawago village and the world's largest cable car, but the bus routes were refreshingly expensive. Of course, I was aware of Japanese train prices, they are scary, but there are ways to save, but there are no ways to save on buses. A round-trip ticket for the route, which lasts only an hour, costs 5,000 yen. For the sake of cable car, or rather, for the sake of the view from it, I would have paid that much plus about that much for tickets to the road itself, but it was closed for an annual technical inspection for exactly those 5 days that I was in Takayama, literally day after day.
Therefore, we had to be content with walks around Takayama itself and the local village of Gassno, or rather a museum that was made based on it, collecting all the old houses in one area. The name "gassno" comes from the word meaning hands folded in prayer. Those. in Nepali you can say that this is the village of Namaste =) The reasons for choosing this form are not religious, it’s just that in this region of Japan there is a lot of snow in winter.
All of these houses were built during the Edo period, which means they could be between 400 and 150 years old. Wow! Something, of course, was dismantled, but it’s still hard to believe that a simple tree could stand for so long.
Spring, icicles on the roof.
Each house belonged to a family, and is called by name. You can wander around inside and visit different rooms.
It's mostly very dark, and I don't have a flash on my camera, so only one photo.
You can wander among the trees and feel like you are in ancient Japan. I also additionally catch flashbacks of Indonesia and Batak houses on Lake Toba. I rode all these mountains South-East Asia and collected in my mind a collection of what I liked most about each country. And then I came to Japan and found all this here. Even the winter-improved ones are my favorite houses! And there is a lake here too, albeit a small one.
The honest truth about a lot of snow. It’s mid-April, and it’s still a while!
Thatched roofs.
And again there are icicles on the roofs.
How beautiful it is here!
The structure of the Japanese village is completely preserved. There is a temple at the very top, and old statues of Buddhas in aprons.
And other religious buildings.
There are vegetable gardens.
Woodshed.
Mill.
And a cast-iron teapot cooks on coals.
If it were not for the absence of people, museum exhibitions and signs on every corner, one could truly imagine that he was in the distant past.
You can take a photo in your clothes near the cart, and for free, but wandering around the village in a suit is probably no longer possible.
Puppet Museum. These dolls were placed at the entrance to houses where there were girl children, so that they would grow well and be healthy. There had to be not just one doll, but a whole set. The dolls for this museum were donated by local residents.
Sudden retro high-tech. Something souvenir for tourists.
Today I will completely overwhelm you with beauty, because... Immediately after the village I climbed to the top of the mountain. Along neat steps.
Okay, I won't exaggerate. I had to make my way along a road covered with snow, and along a forest path.
But in the most dangerous and difficult places there were still steps and railings. This is Japanese caring for one's neighbor and love for detail.
Beautiful. And there is a bench to admire this beauty.
Something like this.
Or without unnecessary objects in the frame.
It would have been possible to walk along various small tracks to get to a few more temples, but the snow piles on the road and the total emptiness aroused certain doubts in me. And my sneakers are already wet, despite all the Japanese care for one’s neighbor.
I wish I could come back here with good shoes, a bike and plenty of time to wander around and ride around. The mountains in Japan are no worse than the Himalayas.
Japanese National House
I once visited the Open Air Ethnographic Museum near Riga, where in a picturesque place on the shore of Lake Juglas there were Latvian traditional houses, an old mill, barns and other buildings. It’s very interesting and informative to watch, but I’ve never been to a similar ethnographic village in Russia, I don’t even know if there is one. If it exists somewhere, then to complete the picture, two types of traditional Russian houses should be presented there. The fact is that Russians as an ethnic group were formed from two nationalities - North Russian and South Russian, they differ ethnographically, linguistically, genetically - they have different dialects, folk costumes, etc., Russian epics, for example, are the fruit of the memory of the North Russians, and the Russian bathhouse is an invention northern Rus'. Even the housing is different; in the southern Russian regions it is of the manor type, while in the north houses and outbuildings were built under one roof. The Japanese traditional house is not much like the Russian one, assembled from logs; in Japan they built frame-type houses, the walls were not load-bearing, but wooden columns and crossbars, which were connected without the use of nails, formed the skeleton of the house, they were the load-bearing elements of such a house. But in terms of the type of layout, Japanese housing can be compared with Northern Russian housing - here, too, the residential part of the house and outbuildings were erected under one roof. I want to talk about a traditional Japanese house.
In the land of the rising sun, the national house was the home of farmers, artisans and merchants, that is, all the main castes, excluding samurai, built in several traditional styles based on geographical and climatic conditions, as well as the lifestyle of local residents. Most of these homes usually fall into one of two main categories - farmhouses and country houses, but there are also sub-classes of styles, such as houses in fishing villages. Such folk houses have survived to this day and are now considered historical landmarks. There are open-air museums in Japan, such as Nihon Minka-en in Kawasaki. Houses built in the gassho-zukuri style survive in two villages in central Japan - Shirakawa in Gifu Prefecture and Gokayama in Toyama Prefecture.
Two villages, Shirakawa and Gokayama, are the pearls of the Japanese archipelago; in terms of their significance for the Japanese, these houses can be compared with Kizhi for the Russians. By the way, not everyone knows how a village differs from a village in Russia; for reference, there has always been a church in the village. So, these Japanese historical villages of Shirakawa and Gokayama are located in a remote mountainous region of the island of Honshu, which in winter time was cut off from the rest of Japan for long periods of time. A special school of architecture, gassho-zukuri, developed here. Traditional houses in this area are characterized by steep thatched roofs. The main occupation of the local residents was silkworm breeding, so the upper floors of the houses were skillfully adapted for the needs of silkworming. Gassho-zukuri, probably the most recognizable style, featured high, gabled roofs. Such houses were well suited to heavy snowfall and downpour, the steep peaked roof allowing rain and snow to fall straight off it, preventing water from entering through the roof into the house, and to a lesser extent preventing the thatch from becoming too wet and starting to rot. Villages included in the List world heritage UNESCO as an outstanding example of a traditional way of life, perfectly adapted to environment and local social and economic conditions. To illustrate the post, photographs showing houses from the village of Shirakawa were used.
When building these traditional houses, the Japanese used cheap and easily available materials because farmers could not afford to import expensive materials. Such houses are made exclusively of wood, bamboo, clay and various types of grass and thatch. The skeletal structure of the house, roof, walls and supports are made of wood. The outer walls were finished often with the addition of bamboo and clay, the inner walls were not installed, and consisted of sliding doors, wooden bars and/or paper screens. Grass and straw were used to cover the roofs and for tatami floors. Sometimes clay tiles were used in addition to straw. Stone was used to strengthen or create the foundation of a house, that is, a type of foundation, but it was not used for the house itself. The house turned out to be frame, the walls were not load-bearing, holes were left in them for windows or doors, that is, shoji paper screens were used, as well as heavier wooden doors.
Further, to describe the Japanese house, I used material from several posts by a LiveJournal user. Come in, you will be a guest! , a wonderful blog, I recommend adding it as a friend to anyone who has an account on LiveJournal. So, the way to build such houses is as follows. Such houses do not have a continuous strip foundation. At the site of the future house, the soil surface is leveled and compacted tightly. Then stones of suitable size with a smooth and flat top surface are driven into the compacted surface. They are driven in in the places where the supporting pillars of the house should be located. Approximately every meter and a half along the entire perimeter and along future walls. Each vertical pillar rests on a stone, like a foundation, although not solid. This design protects the supporting pillars of the house from direct contact with the soil and protects the tree from constant exposure to dampness and rotting.
A frame of support pillars and upper beams is installed on the foundation stones, creating the outline of the future house. The main frame of the house is erected without the use of nails or other iron fasteners. The logs are connected to each other by a complex system of grooves and wooden rivets. The roof frame is placed on top of this frame. It is put on sequentially - in triangular arches, attached to each symmetrical pair of support pillars along the entire length of the house. Then the roof arches are connected by transverse beams. Beams and load-bearing logs of the structure are held together with ropes made of rice straw and strands of young tree shoots. All fastenings are either made of ropes, or in spacers, in grooves. The finished frame on the sides of the roof is first covered with long mats made of reeds or a variety of sasa bamboo, these mats form the inner surface of the roof. On top of these mats, tightly tied bundles of reeds are laid in layers. The reed bundles are laid in even rows and attached to the roof, also with ropes made of rice straw. These ropes are used to stitch the mats like threads, fastening the bundles to the beams of the frame.
The cross-section of the roof of such houses is an equilateral triangle, its size greatly depends on the size of the house itself. The larger the house, the higher the roof. Accordingly, the space created under the roof can be divided into floors. If the house is small, then there are two floors, big house- three floors. Any possible gaps between the walls of the house and the roof are laid with bunches of the same reed. After installing the roof, the house is sheathed with boards on the outside and furnished from the inside. The ends of the roof are also sheathed with boards, in which ventilation windows are then cut.
Typically the house has two galleries along its entire length. The front (facade) faces the street, and the back faces the mountains or gardens. The ends of the house are usually blank or have small windows. In modern houses, additional rooms under ordinary modern roofs are often attached to the ends. But they also come with sliding doors - direct access to the technical rooms of the house from the street, not from the inside. Galleries are usually open or curtained from the sun and indiscreet views with mats. The galleries were closed at night, in winter or during a storm, with wooden panels in the manner of sliding doors. When not protecting the house, these panels are stored in a cabinet at the end of the gallery. In modern houses, galleries are often closed, especially at the back of the house. Glazed or simply closed halfway in the manner of a veranda.
From one of the edges of the house, rarely in the middle, there is an entrance to the house; you can, of course, enter from any point in the open gallery, but this is impolite if you do not live in this house. The interior space of the house is divided into several rooms. Their number and size depend on the overall size of the house. Usually the internal layout of the house is laid out already at the level of driving in the foundation stones, since these stones determine the position of the structural units and corners of the house, both external and internal. All life in the house takes place mainly on the ground floor. The second floor is a work and warehouse floor; it is used as a workshop for small peasant crafts. The third floor, even if it exists, is usually not used, except that all sorts of herbs useful for the household are dried and stored here. The third floor is just a smooth lattice. This is a type of technical floor needed to monitor the condition of the roof. The volume of space under the roof primarily acts as a thermostat, keeping the inside of the house at a roughly constant temperature. In summer it is very hot outside, but inside the house it is quite cool and comfortable; not only air conditioning is not needed, but even a fan is not needed.
Depending on the size of the house and the wealth of the family, the house may have several storage rooms or recreation rooms. But the general layout is approximately the same. The central room of the house is the hearth, on one side there are storage and utility rooms, on the other there are front, clean rooms for rest. Sometimes the genkan hallway is actually combined with the kitchen. At the entrance there are a couple of utility rooms where all sorts of large items that are usually used outside the house are stored. The floors in such utility rooms are tightly compacted earth or grated flooring. The floor level in the living rooms is raised above the ground by about 20 cm. One of the main interior spaces of the house on the first floor is a common room with a fireplace. Depending on the size of the house and the number of inhabitants, the hearth may be one or two hearths at different ends of the room. The fireplaces here are all of the same design - a square hole in the floor filled with sand and ash from already burnt wood. It contains one or two cast iron stands for the boiler and kettle. There are either mats around the fireplace, or the room itself is covered with tatami. The room with the fireplace was usually used as a dining room and living room for the whole family, but almost never as a bedroom.
There is no ceiling as such in the dining room - a grated flooring that allows direct smoke to escape through the roof. Above each fireplace, large wooden panels, slightly larger in size than the area of the fireplace, hang from ropes attached to the ceiling beams. Their task is to prevent hot smoke from going straight up, so that the ceiling does not catch fire, and the hot air disperses more or less evenly throughout the volume of the house. On top of the shield you can put something that needs drying - a raincoat or a hat. Or some necessary things at hand. There are no chimneys, the smoke rises from the hearth and, having passed through the entire volume of the house, comes out directly through the thatched roof. At the same time, everything inside the house and the roof itself are thoroughly smoked and dried. In these houses, insects and mice do not live in the roofs. And the roof hardly rots even during the rainy season or under snow. The ceilings in such houses are not solid, but lattice, so that smoke rises freely. There is continuous flooring on the second floor only along the walls. If the house is large, then in those places where there is no fireplace, the flooring is also solid.
On both sides of the central room of the house with the hearth there are smaller rooms. Some of them are used as utility and work spaces, the rest - as rooms for relaxing and receiving guests, the floors here are covered with tatami, in one of the rooms of the house there is a tokonoma with beautiful scrolls, bouquets of flowers and trinkets. Here they received guests and slept. One of the rooms is used as a dressing room; things necessary for living in the house are stored here, and bedding items - futons, pillows, blankets - were put away during the day. The dressing room stores all sorts of household items that it is advisable to have on hand every day.
At the end of the gallery-veranda there is a bathroom with a wooden ofuro bathtub. Detached outbuilding with outside has a toilet type toilet, the secondary product falls down into a special bucket, and is then taken out to the fields as fertilizer. On one side there is the main residential building of the estate, on the other there is a small outbuilding. they are connected by a covered walkway. Small calves could be kept in the outbuilding; there was no floor in the calf barn, just trampled earth covered with straw. And the buckets were suspended, on which the calf was given food and waste products (manure, in common parlance) were taken away.
According to one of the urban legends, in Japan there is a village called Inunaki, which is completely isolated not only from other settlements, but also from the whole country. It is clear that this is difficult to believe, but some individuals claim that it still exists.
Mystical village
There are other details about the Inunaki village. Allegedly, at the entrance to Inunaki there is a sign with an inscription that informs all travelers that the laws of Japan do not apply on the territory of the village.
But that's not all. Residents of the mystical village, according to rumors, do not shy away from incest and cannibalism, and murder is considered commonplace here. According to some rumors, most of The village died out from an epidemic; according to another version, a maniac appeared here and killed several dozen people. Besides, there’s no fishing in the village mobile connection and electrical appliances do not work.
In the village of Inunaki you can find several shops and pay phones, but they are of little use - they also do not work. Few managed to find this mysterious village, and only a few managed to return from it...
The truth about the Inunaki village
As it turned out, the Inunaki village really exists, but not everything about it is so bad. It's just a village with many abandoned houses. In other houses, mostly old people live. However, sometimes people come here who want to tickle their nerves after hearing horror stories about this place.
The name of the village Inunaki can be translated as "barking dog". According to legend, a man once lived here with a dog, which one day began to bark non-stop. The man could not calm her down and, in a fit of rage, killed the dog. After some time, a black dragon flew into the village and incinerated the man himself. Then the surviving villagers realized that the faithful dog was trying to warn his master about the impending threat.
At the end of the Edo period (1603-1868), the Inunaki village was under the jurisdiction of the Kuroda clan, and was located at the bottom of a valley in the mountains. The main source of income for the residents was timber.
Until 1889, the village belonged to the municipality of Inunaki Kurate, Fukuoka. In Inunaki they decided to build two warehouses for storing coal. However, in 1959, one of the buildings was destroyed by a flood, which also washed away part of the local cemetery. Among the destroyed graves were two cursed ones (one of them belonged to a man who killed his dog). According to rumors, if someone touched them, a curse fell on him.
Before World War II and during the war, the village of Inunaki served as a source of coal for the needs of the Japanese army. After the war, the villagers began to engage in agriculture and selling coal. And in 1986, it was decided to build a dam on the site of the village, so the settlement was moved to another place.
As we can see, the urban legend about the Inunaki village is not true. The only thing you should be wary of if you suddenly go here are wild boars and snakes, which is what the information stands installed here warn about.
