The Origin of Ishii family and Oka family homes

The two traditional style houses that have been reconstructed in Shumei Natural Agriculture Shigaraki no Sato once belonged to the Ishii and Oka families. Originally, they were built in Asai, northeast of Lake Biwa, during the Bunka and Bunsei periods of the late Edo Era.

The layout of these houses was known as Ikadachi-type at that time. As you entered the house, there was a large area with a dirt floor. Inside the house, there were three rooms including a parlor and a room for sleeping. For their daily life, the family mainly used the dirt floor space called Niuji. Initially, they laid up to 10cm of rice chaff on the floor and then covered it with a rush mat.

The family did some farm work, had their meals and twisted straw in the Niuji, and at night, the children slept there. There were many cases where families covered the earthen floor with wooden board. That's one of special features of these old-style houses; you could change your house as you liked.

After these two old style houses were purchased, they were reconstructed side by side. Later, learned that an ancestor of the Oka family once married into the Ishii family. Today, these two old homes that once belonged to the Oka and Ishii families stand beside one another. We can't help feeling they are linked by fate.

home :: next