Japanese traditional houses, Kurazukuri

The small city known today as Kawagoe (in Saitama, north of Tokyo) was known during the Edo period as Little Edo (Koedo). Like its big brother Edo, it too suffered from multiple devastating fires.

After the great fire from 1893 destroyed a third of the town, the citizens had a brilliant idea: they decided that from then on they will build fire resistant houses. So, they stopped building the traditional wooden houses and started using a construction style called kurazukuri, which was used for warehouses, with the walls made from multiple layers and the roof made from black plaster.

From the over 200 houses built in the kurazukuri style, several dozens survived until today (they were not only fire resistant but also earthquake resistant), most of them located on the Kurazukuri street, near the Toki-no-Kane.
The kurazukuri houses still look exactly like during the Edo period and they are absolutely gorgeous. And these are not museums but real homes, shops, restaurants... even a barber shop and a post office...