This episode features the Machiya or traditional wooden townhouses of Kyoto Prefecture. They tend to be long and narrow, and sometimes have a special place for the successive masters of the household to sit and admire the view. And they have stylish tokonoma alcoves as well. We look at an inner reception room that once part of a villa owned by the feudal lord and artist Kobori Enshu (1579-1647). It dazzles the visitor with its craftsmanship, be it the sliding doors with pine trees depicted in lacquer and mica, or the transoms with their intricate openwork. We focus on the different types of latticework, by which one could determine the occupation of the owner, such as charcoal or rice merchant. And we follow a plasterer who maintains the craft of fashioning earthen walls.
