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.

What you actually see

• 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.

Honest expectations

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.