Shijo Ofune-hoko Float Machiya

In November 2018, the restoration of the early 20th-century Shijo-cho Ofune-hoko Float Machiya in Kyoto, Japan, received the Award of Excellence at this year’s UNESCO Asia-Pacific Awards for Cultural Heritage Conservation. The award recognizes the restoration of the machiya as “celebrating Kyoto culture through the safeguarding of the city’s endangered wooden townhouse typology as well as the iconic Gion Festival.” 

The restoration of Shijo Ofune-hoko Float Machiya is the third phase of Kyoto Machiya Townhouses project. After its conservation in the summer of 2017, the traditional machiya was resurged as the cultural center of the community, serving as the permanent home for the renowned Ofune-hoko Float in Kyoto.