The house was first built in 1920 and families of weaving craftsmen lived and worked for generations until a decade ago. In 2014, the typical Kyoto wooden house called “machiya” was completed renovated by the top renovation designer Hachise, maintaining its unique wooden structure as machiya. The 1st floor of this total of 52 m2 two-story townhouse consists of a retro but spacious island kitchen, a walnut dining table and chairs for five, and a living area with a Scandinavian sofa, center table, and TV board on white thermo tiles, facing a mini Japanese garden, along with bath/shower/powder rooms and toilet. One of the two sleeping rooms, with natural wooden beam on the ceiling, accommodates two single beds on the walnut floor and the other is a typical tatami room for two persons. The machiya provides all modern technologies and necessities from wireless LAN, a BOSE wireless speaker, 40inch full high vision TV, an automatic taxi caller, a toilet with bidet function, and three air conditioners to kitchen dinnerware and kitchen appliance including a microwave, a toaster, and a coffee mill and server as well as four free bikes.

Realized the values of Kyoto and its historical machiya townhouse when the owner stayed in the city for half a year as management consultant. A couple of years later, he bought a machiya property for his second house as well as accommodate for tourists. Leveraging his various experience such as consultant, mechanical engineer, and director of HR and internal operations, the owner now operates two properties in Kyoto. He hosted over 200 groups from around the world (US, UK, Australia, France, Switzerland, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Korea, etc.) of various compositions (familis, couples, and friends). Both properties are recommended to both the first visitor to the city or repeater who want to stay closer and deeper to Kyoto’s real daily life or those who are interested in the atmosphere, aesthetics, or structure of Kyoto’s machiya townhouse.

The house is located in a calm, traditional residential area in the north of Kyoto and has an easy access to 6 out of Kyoto’s 17 World Heritage Sites: Kinkakuji (a.k.a. Golden Pavilion) [10 min by bike], Ryoanji temple [5 min by bus from Kinkaku-ji], Ninnaji temple [3 min by bus from Ryoanji], Kamigamo shrine [10 min by bicycle], Shimogamo shrine [15 min by bus], and Nijo-jo castle [16 min by bus]. Nearest station is Kitaoji on the subway Karasuma line and is 7 stations (12min ) from Kyoto station. The house can be reached by taxi from the station (700 yen, 3 min) or by walk (1km, 15 min) if without heavy luggage. In addition to these designated sites, the house provides an easy access to Daitokuji temple (3 stars in Michelin guide and also known as the family temple of Sen-no-rikyu, the founder of tea ceremony), Kamo-gawa river (loved by tourists and local residents for its wide river beach good for walking / jogging and relaxing), and Kyoto Botanical Garden (very few tourists yet provides great sakura and colored leave views) as well as things such as the Kyoto's longest traditional shopping street with many mom'n pops stores and many sento bath houses and a retro cafes.