On July 21, representatives of the Mikura community in Kobe, Japan signed an agreement in Taipei with their Taiwanese counterparts to allow the relocation and rebuilding of a traditional Japanese-style house to Danshui Township, Taipei County in the northern part of Taiwan.
The historic building--which has no nails, but uses mortise and tenon joints--was constructed in Fukui Prefecture around 1915 by the father of renowned Japanese author Minakami Tsutomu (1919-2004). The work of rebuilding the house in Taiwan will likely begin in November according to Chiu Ming-min, a community development expert and the project's Taiwanese organizer.
The project to donate the historic building might have been motivated by the spirit of giving and sharing, but it did not come about without a series of twists and turns.
The story begins with the reconstruction of the Japanese community of Mikura, which suffered heavy damage in the Jan. 17, 1995 Kobe Earthquake. Led by resident Tanaka Ysuzo, Mikura locals participated in the reconstruction of their community, rejecting a government offer to build a new activity center for the district. Instead, they chose to relocate a 130-year-old house from Hyogo Prefecture, taking it apart and reassembling it in their own community, according to Chiu, who is currently a doctoral student of regional space creation science of Kobe University.
At that time, Chiu was one of the 400-member volunteer team that helped with reassembling old-style traditional Japanese building. That relocation project was completed in 2004 and gained attention across Japan. After hearing about the project, the owners of the Tsutomu house decided to donate their building to the Mikura community as they had learned the house was slated for demolition by the prefecture to make way for a park.
Rather than accepting the gift for their own community, Mikura residents put forward the idea of rebuilding the wooden house in Taiwan. The project was meant as "a symbol of rebuilding a home," said Chiu at July's signing ceremony in Taipei, and an encouragement to the people affected by the Sept. 21, 1999 Jiji Earthquake.
Chiu noted that some Mikura residents had, at their own expense, visited Taiwan to extend their sympathy for earthquake victims immediately after the powerful temblor hit in 1999. They continued with a series of visits throughout the following years, looking to share their earthquake reconstruction experience with communities in Taiwan.
In 2004, Chiu himself and a team of four architecture students plus documentary filmmaker Chuang Yue flew to Fukui Prefecture to join local Japanese volunteers in the process of dismantling the Tsutomu house and coding the parts for future reassembly.
"It was during that process that the idea to relocate the Fukui building to Taiwan was strengthened, as trust and friendship between volunteers from the two sides was consolidated," Chiu has written of the trip.
The decision to donate the building to Taiwan was confirmed soon thereafter, despite the interest shown by Kobe University and a French museum in having the building. The 500 wooden parts were shipped to Taiwan at the end of 2005.
However, funding difficulties and a location for the house, as well as legal constraints, have stalled the project since then. It was not until May this year that the project got the final go-ahead, with the Taipei County Government classifying the house as "memorial architecture," thereby relieving it of the need for the usual building license and environmental impact evaluation.
Tanaka Ysuzo, the driving force behind the project, said at the ceremony that Japan was happy to see the project move forward after four years of waiting. More than 200 books in Tsutomu's collection are to be donated along with the former home, he added.
The rebuilding project was significant on other levels, too, Chiu noted. "It's quite likely that the juniper timber used in the old building was obtained from Taiwan during the Japanese rule of the island. [The donors believed] Japan took too much from Taiwan in the past, and, though they could not afford to return a mountain, at least private citizens could give back an antique house," Chiu reported.
Yet despite the amount of work that has been done to realize the plan, problems still lie ahead. "The township office has budgeted for the project, but there's still a funding deficit," Chiu said Sept. 10, urging the central government to lend a helping hand.
Hailing the project as a sign of peace and friendship, Danshui Mayor Tsai Yeh-wei unveiled a plan by the township office to include the wooden building in a "Peace Park." The park, to be built north of Danshui's popular Fort San Domingo, will join the group of historic structures built by Spanish, Dutch and British colonizers in the old port city.
Write to June Tsai at june@mail.gio.gov.tw