Main entry:

Roderick, John.

Title & Author:

Minka : my farmhouse in Japan / John Roderick.

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication:

New York : Princeton Architectural Press, ©2008.

Description:

251 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Notes:
Prologue -- Book One -- A Breakfast to Remember -- Chaucer, Yochan, and Me -- Year of the Rat -- The Great Peak -- A Bad Oyster -- Tin! -- Honorable Daikusan -- Spider Men -- Orgies and Chamber Music -- A Loveable American -- Book Two -- Feel Poor! -- White Ants -- The Evil Eye -- The Spoons -- Yochan -- Fences -- Life of the Party -- Minkas Domestic -- Gardens, Stones, and Buddhas -- Minkas Foreign -- East Gallery -- Poppy and the Queens -- Hillary and the Abbot -- Epilogue

Summary:

"In 1959 journalist John Roderick joined the Tokyo bureau of the Associated Press. There, he befriended a Japanese family, the Takishitas. After musing offhandedly that he would like to one day have his own house in Japan, the family - unbeknownst to John - set out to grant his wish. They found Roderick a 250-year-old minka, or hand-built farmhouse, with a thatched roof and held together entirely by wooden pegs and joinery. It was about to be washed away by flooding and was being offered for only fourteen dollars. Roderick graciously bought the house, but was privately dismayed at the prospect of living in this enormous old relic lacking heating, bathing, plumbing, and proper kitchen facilities. So the minka was dismantled and stored, where Roderick secretly hoped it would stay, as it did for years." "But Roderick's reverence for natural materials and his appreciation of traditional Japanese and Shinto crafsmanship eventually got the better of him. Before long, carpenters were hoisting massive beams, laying wide wooden floors, and attaching the split-bamboo ceiling. In just forty days they rebuilt the house on a hill overlooking Kamakura, the ancient capital of Japan. Working together they renovated the farmhouse, adding features such as floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors and a modern kitchen, bath, and toilet." "John Roderick's architectural memoir Minka tells the compelling and often poignant story of how one man fell in love with the people, culture, and ancient building traditions of Japan, and reminds us all about the importance of craftsmanship and the meaning of place and home in the process."--Jacket.

Resources:
Table of contents only
Publisher description
Contributor biographical information
Table of contents only
Publisher description
Contributor biographical information

ISBN:

9781568987316 (alk. paper)
1568987315 (alk. paper)

Subject:

Roderick, John Homes and haunts Japan Kamakura-shi.
Roderick, John.
Architecture, Domestic Japan Ise-shi.
Farmhouses Japan Ise-shi.
Vernacular architecture Japan Ise-shi.
Architecture vernaculaire Japon Ise.
Architecture, Domestic.
Farmhouses.
Homes.
Vernacular architecture.
Japan Ise-shi.
Japan Kamakura-shi.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 253809
Call No.: BIB 183604
Status: Available