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Photographs of 19th Century Japan

(cosmographia.substack.com)
444 points merothwell | 4 comments | 09 Apr 25 12:20 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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canpan ◴[09 Apr 25 23:51 UTC] No.43639224[source]▶
Quite a few of those still exist!

* Wysteria Vine. It is not written, but I am pretty sure it's Kameido Shrine. You need to come at the right time to see flowers like that though.

* Nikko All pictures that show shrine and pagoda

* Osaka Castle

* Daibutsu, at Kamakura

* Jinrikishia Now it's for tourists, but you can ride in Asakusa.

* View Ojigoku on Great Boiling Springs, Hakone.

* Wrestlers. Sumo still exists and looks like that.

* Gion Machi Street, at Kyoto. Looks a bit different, but there are still many old houses like this.

* View of Nara.

* Tennojo Buddhist Temple

* Hakone Lake of Fujiyama

What does not exist anymore is any picture showing a town or village. I feel sad about this. There are a very few places that kept this (E.g. Shirakawago). Now all houses look boring. Only recently people thought to build pretty houses again.

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1. gibagger ◴[10 Apr 25 08:31 UTC] No.43641925[source]▶
Unfortunately those pretty houses come at a cost. Traditional materials and techniques usually come at a price. Lots of wood and joinery work needs to be done, much of it by hand. They are also not well insulated so hard to keep warm in winter. They're so pretty though!.

You can still see a few of these houses and their traditional gardens in some of the wealthy, old-money smelling parts of Kyoto.

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2. SenHeng ◴[10 Apr 25 09:28 UTC] No.43642241[source]▶
My next door neighbour lives in one of those thatched roof houses. I once visited in mid May, it was sweltering hot outside so I was in Tshirts and shorts. Inside, it was freezing! They had the kotatsu and a kerosene stove on.
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3. MisterTea ◴[10 Apr 25 13:24 UTC] No.43643538[source]▶
You can certainly combine modern construction techniques with traditional looks. Don't expect 1:1 looks but you can make them less boring.
4. nottorp ◴[10 Apr 25 16:33 UTC] No.43645582[source]▶
That's a feature these days!