The Loft

The days are cooler, nights crisper, and autumn will come soon to paint the leaves. I've started sleeping up in the loft of my renovated machiya. Until the other day, I had no idea that traditional Japanese homes often had lofts...even though I live in one, I thought it was a modern design. A little research reveals that lofts, or tsushi 厨子, were used for storage, servants quarters, or to raise silkworms. The architecture was also thought to circulate air and equalize pressure during typhoon season. Today, they are also used for main bedrooms, as I'm doing, or as dining rooms in places of business (second photo, of a traditional sweets house I visited in Nara the other day). History aside, I feel like a kid climbing up into my loft. Every day a new adventure...even inside my own home.

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