Case Study — Culture Programme

Tondaya Nishijin Textile Lifestyle Gallery

Tondaya welcomes conventions to a living traditional Kyoto machiya merchant house that has not so much been preserved as a museum but rather is drawing interest as a place to experience traditional Kyoto living. Each month there are events that celebrate long held traditions. Owner Ms Mineko Tanaka takes programme participants on a tour and gives fascinating insight into Kyoto heritage.

Living heritage – Dolls Festival celebrated at Tondaya. Courtesy of Tondaya (c)
Living heritage
– Dolls Festival celebrated at Tondaya
Courtesy of Tondaya (c)
Enlarging picture
Thirteen generations of dolls on annual display at Tondaya
Thirteen generations of dolls
on annual display at Tondaya
Enlarging picture

Ms Tanaka loves to talk in excellent English and show people her wonderful Kyoto Machiya house. She is the 13th generation of a family that began as a financier in Fushimi and later moved to deal in kimono in the Nishijin quarter of the city. The house is a warren of winding passages that take you around six secluded gardens to beautiful rooms. There are even typical kura storehouses in the back that are treasure troves of the family assets. The house was built in the 18th year of Meji (1885) and is registered as a tangible cultural property.

Tanaka uses this great asset and her deep knowledge of the history of the Kyoto Nishijin textile district to give convention participants inspiring and insightful culture programmes and workshops. Surely there can be nowhere better to try on kimono and learn how to show off its full beauty than in the 120 year old house of a kimono dealer family. In fact one of the best ways to understand and enjoy the kimono is by taking part in a Tea Ceremony or by enjoying a Kyoto meal. All activities are fully explained and you leave Tondaya with a feeling of understanding and empathy for historic and contemporary Kyoto.

The value of taking time out in Tondaya is that visitors can learn about daily rituals and activities of machiya residents that cannot be satisfactorily shown through other means. These low timber houses with narrow fronts and living-working spaces that stretch far back from the narrow lanes define the architecture of this former capital. Opportunities to get to know the so-called “beds of eels” and traditional lifestyles that take place within are few in the 21st Century, therefore Tondaya gives unique opportunities to convention groups to thoroughly appreciate ancient Kyoto.