Ine no Funaya

Ine sits on a bay on the northern coast of Kyoto prefecture that faces south, is enclosed by a headland and an island, and has a tidal range of only about thirty centimetres - which is why a form of building that would be impossible almost anywhere else works here. The funaya are two-storey houses built with the ground floor open at the water end and sloping into the sea, so a boat is pulled up inside the building on rails and the family lives above it; about 230 of them stand around five kilometres of shore, packed shoulder to shoulder at the waterline. They are working houses, not a preserved display, and the district is a designated preservation area. The way to see them is from the water - sightseeing boats and small local ferries run the bay, and gulls follow them for the snacks passengers buy at the pier.

History

Burial mounds of the late 6th century on the hill above show that people lived here early, and Ine is first named in a document of 1191. The first settlement stood on the mountainside behind the present village, with houses, fields, shrines and temples on terraces down the slope (Wikipedia, Ine-ura).

What's there

• Boats moored indoors - ground floors open to the sea with vessels pulled up inside.
• About 230 funaya - packed along five kilometres of shore at the waterline.
• A thirty-centimetre tide - the condition that makes the form possible.
• The view from the water - sightseeing boats and small ferries around the bay.

When to go

April to November. Half a day. Morning light comes onto the houses from the bay.

Things to know

These are private homes and the land side is a working village - do not enter or photograph interiors. Buses from Amanohashidate are infrequent. Boats are cancelled in swell. There are few facilities in the village.

Nearby

Amanohashidate is south-west; the Tango peninsula coast runs north.

Key facts