Japanese traditional blinds, Sudare

In the old times, before air conditioning and electric fans, the Japanese people came up with some interesting ways to combat the summer heat. One of their solutions was sudare, a kind of window blinds made of thin bamboo strips tied with thin ropes.

Sudare was made to shield against the sun, with small openings between the bamboo strips, so that the air flow wasn't affected, but the dust was filtered, and the insects were kept out. When sudare wasn't used, it was rolled up the same way as the window blinds. Interestingly, sudare are still in used today, in the traditional areas, as you can see in today's photo, taken in Kurashiki.