Completion of Second Phase of Machiya Revitalization Project Celebrated In Kyoto

The Kyoto Center for Community Collaboration (KCCC) and World Monuments Fund (WMF) have announced the completion of restoration work at a historic machiya (townhouse) in Kyoto. The machiya, called Furaibo, will open to the public as a museum on May 25. The restoration of was supported, in part, by WMF with support from the U.S.-based Freeman Foundation, and Edward and Anne Studzinski of Chicago, Illinois.

The restored machiya, a traditional wooden townhouse built in 1932, in the early Shōwa period (1926–1989), had been vacant for many years. The family that owned the building agreed to lease it to a local artist, Mr. Yasuhiko Kida, in order to turn the building into the Kyomachiya Museum-Furaibou, which would result in its the preservation and restoration, as well as open it to the public. This effort was carried out through collaboration with KCCC and the Kyomachiya Council, an NGO dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of machiya in Kyoto. The transformation of Furaibou into a museum is part of the cultural and educational outreach goal of the KCCC, Kyomachiya Council, and WMF for the surviving machiya in Kyoto, which disappear at a rate of about 2 percent annually.