ABOUT US
It is a guest house as an installation with the concept of "sleep in a building there for 120 years ago".
It is a guest house where you can experience old Japanese way of living.
About 800 Kyo-machiya have been demolishing in every year.
Please stay in this traditional house, and look, touch, feel.
We believe that modern people think about what is lost. (such as Culture, Customs and Considerate/Mindfulness of old life)
It is a building that was built in accordance with the natural environment and life of 120 years ago.
There are parts that do not match with modern climate, lifestyle habits and ideas.
Please check facilities and precautions and make a reservation after understanding.
Uronza is "Kyo-machiya"
Entering Uronza, most people feel a sort of nostalgia, the feeling we usually have about the dear old home. Your eye will be caught by the Doma, a long interior passage connecting the street and the inner part of the house. And, you will look up at the Hibukuro (it's more than seven meters...about 25ft. high.), a stairwell conveying an inexpressible feeling of openness.
A Kyo-machiya is a traditional Kyoto-style house, which is built with traditional construction methods.
The renovation of Uronza
Uronza located in a Kyo-machiya, a traditional Kyoto-style wooden house built in 1897. However, it was a shabby house that had been vacant for decades.
It took us more than about four months (2003) to renovate the badly damaged parts of this very old construction.
Since the house was built by traditional construction methods, only traditional renovation techniques were used, then Uronza has come back to life, completely.
Kyo-machiya and the climate of Kyoto
Kyo-machiyas used to be designed with a lot of importance attached to how to spend the hot summers comfortably. That is why you can pleasantly live in a machiya during the summer, although it might at times feel a bit chilly in winter.
What can you experience in Uronza?
Kyo-machiya is designed with respect to the climate of Kyoto. Building them required a lot of inventiveness and creativity, but the natural materials have their limitations, which may result in a certain inconvenience.
Then you require readiness for terrible hotness on recent summer in Kyoto!
Kyo-machiya gives you a chance to develop and use your ability to live in harmony with the environment. In other words, Uronza is a place where you can enjoy a unique, inspiring incompleteness of things.
Where the name of Uronza come from?
The meaning of the word uronza comes from Zen Buddhism. It is used for describing the way priests sit down during services - "at random" or "tentatively" without respecting the usual precedence prescribed by the Zen-ke (group) rules.
The concept of Uronza (like other Japanese expressions related to it, such as katte, tekitou, iikagen) tells us not to depend on any hierarchy, not to be bound by anything, and to make ourselves comfortable.
Uronza offers tourists a place where…
people can relax regardless of who they are, where they come from, take a rest sitting on tatami mats, savoring the traditional Japanese atmosphere.
We have opened “Uronza” on 13th July 2005!
Basic philosophy "continuing to use"
Formerly, in building new Kyo-machiya had used the recycling materials. And pillars decayed during several decades were restored by a special technique that replaces only the parts that are damaged.
Some earth from the walls could be reused, too. The straw from old tatami mats was mixed into the earth used for making the walls or fixing the tiles. Kaya (Old mosquito nets) was used for strengthening the earthen walls.
Of course, Uronza has been using a lot of recycling materials, too.We think that machiya has been teaching us "continuing to use", because we can live forever if we continue to take care and to make repair of it.
We took the following authorization in order to present our spirits that we continue to use it carefully.
*The building of Uronza was registered with cultural assets on March 2008.
*The building of Uronza was registered with the important building in spectacle in Kyoto on March 2008.
