Narai-juku Project
for Utilization of Old Houses

"BYAKU Narai" opened in August 2021 as a small complex renovated from a traditional house, with accommodation (total 12 rooms), a restaurant, a bar, a hot spring bath facility, a gallery for promoting local culture, and a sake brewery. Since it opened, the number of repeat customers has gradually increased, and it has received good reviews. This section introduces the community development project that Takenaka Corporation and Shiojiri City have worked on together with various stakeholders to revitalize the appeal of Narai-juku.

　　　　

Creating win-win relationships with stakeholders

Our company has devised the Forest Grand Cycle, a sustainable, virtuous cycle of forest resources with the local economy, and have actively promoted construction of wooden buildings as well as worked with various stakeholders to establish this cycle. As stable procurement of large amounts of timber is essential for the construction of these wooden buildings, we have been seeking connections with partners such as forestry cooperatives and tree producers.
This collaboration with Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture, was prompted by the fact that the technology that supports our company’s large-scale wooden constructions, Moen-Wood, is made of larch from Nagano Prefecture, and Nagano City also has a large-scale biomass power plant, making it a "hot spot" where trees are actively used.

Shiojiri City, on the other hand, was facing the problem of an increase in the number of vacant houses due to depopulation caused by a decline of the forestry industry. In response, our company proposed an idea whereby the know-how and networks we have cultivated in various urban creation activities through our MACH Innovation* initiatives could also be utilized in Shiojiri City. As a public-private partnership project, Shiojiri City would raise public funds, and our company and other private companies would jointly establish a “town development company” to provide planning and operating know-how for revitalizing the city.

As a first step, our company established Salt Terminal Co., Ltd., a joint venture with Shiojiri City Forest Corporation, to promote community development through public-private partnership.
Our company is able to connect with regions that have abundant forests, and Shiojiri City is able to solve local issues. This win-win relationship led to a joint venture agreement in January 2020. This is how a town development project centered on “trees” started in Narai-juku, a tourist destination in Shiojiri City.

　　　　　　　

Revitalize the area without destroying the historical Narai-juku scenery

Narai-juku, the stage of the project, is a post town on the old Nakasen-do Road, which is characterized by a townscape well-preserved since the Edo period. In 1978, the townscape was selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings. In recent years, the number of vacant houses has been increasing among the old houses that form the townscape.
In order to revitalize the community by promoting tourism and increasing the number of people living and working in the community, without destroying the landscape that has been cherished and passed down for many years, a proposal to renovate old houses into facility complexes such as restaurants and inns was accepted, and the project was launched.

A project team in which a professional calls a professional

In this project, new life was breathed into buildings with roughly 200-year histories, such as the main building and storehouse of Suginomori Shuzo, a sake brewery which had been closed since 2012, and hoihoi, a former guesthouse located about three minutes away.
The facility was named BYAKU Narai to represent "an inn that delivers 100 experiences lying within the community to guests, and leaves 100-year-old architecture to the future."

　　　　

To start the project team, we reached out to professionals in various fields. First, Salt Terminal Co., Ltd. rented a kominka* from the building owner and worked with the Takenaka Design Department to renovate the old house. In addition, Narai Machiyado Co., Ltd., a new company established by 47 Planning Co., Ltd., who works to resolve local issues, rents the renovated kominka and is responsible for planning and operating the entire facility (except for sake brewery).

In addition, 47 PLANNING and ONESTORY Co., Ltd., who produces the magical restaurant "DINING OUT" that opens somewhere in Japan for only a few days, approached us and asked to produce the restaurant. In addition, Kiraku, Inc., which specializes in kominka ryokan* renovation projects and regional revitalization, took part in the revival of the sake brewery. Tsubame Architects, Inc. took part in the renovation design of hoihoi, a former guesthouse, and NOSIGNER Co., Ltd. took part in the direction of the hotel's branding and sign design.

Continue "dialog" with the buildings

For the renovation of Suginomori Shuzo, where the renovation design was done by our company, the important points were to carefully "talk" with the space, frame, and construction of the existing building to select what should be left, and to build a safe, secure, and comfortable space, which despite being an old private house, would ensure the performance of guest rooms in terms of heat insulation, sound insulation, and earthquake resistance.

In its 200-year history, the buildings renovated on this occasion had been reworked many times to match the lifestyle of the times. Because the buildings were 200 years old, of course there were no detailed plans from the time of construction. Our designers visited the site many times, repeated surveys and measurements, and continued to interact with the buildings.

In addition to some drawings from the Meiji period that were discovered during the site survey, the layout and structure of each room at the time of its construction, as well as stories from previous residents and the historical background, were used as hints to decipher the architectural style of the time and to derive the contexts of hare and ke*, mise and oku*. The rooms close to the street are simple and plain mise, and the rooms facing the courtyard which cannot be seen from the street are tasteful oku. The hare used by the masters, and ke used by the servants. In designing the renovation, we took care to keep these contexts prominent.

For example, in the 105 room, where the oku and hare intersect, we have renovated the guest rooms into authentic shoin-zukuri*-style rooms, taking full advantage of the building's existing shoin (study alcove) and transoms, and enabling exclusive courtyard use by guests. The 103 room, where the mise and ke intersect, reveals powerful beams and a koyagumi* tinged by smoke from a kamado*. Having an atrium whereby it is apparent that it had once been a katteba*, the room was made into a spacious duplex-type room.

We designed all eight guest rooms at the former Suginomori Shuzo in this way. Each room has its own unique character and story, such as the 107 and 108 rooms where a lucid ambiance lingers of being surrounded by the earthen walls of a former household goods storehouse. As the detached former hoihoi Minshuku has an additional four guest rooms, visitors can enjoy a fresh experience in 12 different guests rooms no matter how many times they visit.

Connecting with stories of the buildings and community

The restaurant, kura, was originally a two-story storehouse for sake brewing. By removing the ceiling of the first floor, we created a space that made the most of the large openness of the storehouse, such as the beams and columns that appeared and the strength of the stucco wall that had changed over time. The lighting hanging from the ceiling is a custom-made arrangement of itto* bottles that had been stored at the original brewery, and there is a history of the buildings and town everywhere, such as Kiso lacquerware, which is a specialty of the Kiso-Hirasawa district in a neighboring town, being used for food containers.

At the SAN-SEN hot spring bath facility, visitors can experience the power of nature in the Kiso Valley through their entire body by immersing themselves in the soft mountain water from the headwaters of the Shinano River, which is also used for brewing sake. They can then warm themselves with natural energy from a biomass boiler in the interior space with the fragrance of Kiso-Goboku*. Gallery hoihoi offers visitors the opportunity to learn about the history of Narai-juku, and it has been designed to give users a sense of the connection between the community and the story of Narai-juku in various situations.

Community development in cooperation with local communities

Our company's urban creation is not limited to the large-scale redevelopment of urban areas that many people imagine. The project at Narai-juku and the activities in Unnan City, Shimane Prefecture, and Ogawa-machi, Hiki-gun, Saitama Prefecture are gradually starting to play a role in regional revitalization by collaborating with local people and professionals in various fields.

We will hold repeated dialogs with local people to solve respective problems faced by their communities, struggle together with them on these issues, and continue to promote better "urban creation" on occasion with the help of these other professionals.

Voices of project members

In charge of Planning / Promotion, Yohei Takahama

In rural areas, there are many valuable buildings bearing the culture, tradition, and history of the region that are in danger of continuing to exist, such as vacant buildings due to the relocation of owners or closure of businesses. As our company descended from master builders, we will find new usage and users for valuable architecture, and we will breathe new life into buildings by adding modern renovations to comfortably use them long into the future. This will become the core of our revitalizing local communities. I thought this was one of the missions of our company, which livelihood is from architecture, so I endeavored to work on it.

In charge of design, Yuma Hasegawa

Through careful dialog with historical backgrounds and the spaces, structures, and arrangements of existing buildings, we added new functions while making the most of the things we should have left, and rebuilt this facility into a space with fresh surprises and discoveries. I hope that these buildings will be closely related to the town and that it will be passed on to the future along with the town history.

Mr. Kenji Suzuki, Narai Machiyado (Representative Director, 47 Planning Co., Ltd.)

I believe that towns and regions are revitalized only when the thoughts of outsiders and insiders overlap. Through "BYAKU Narai," an inn that connects directly with the local community through 100 experiences, we want to extend many lines of connection with the local community, form a strong community and grow together, and pass on regional treasures to the next generation.

Mr. Kou Sundberg, suginomori brewery (Representative Director, Kiraku, Inc.)

It has been a great pleasure to participate in this interesting project. Working together with master brewer Irie and taking on the challenge of sake manufacturing for the first time, we were able to create narai, a very delicious sake that expresses the nature of its home, Nagano. It is my hope that many people will visit us to enjoy it. It has only just begun, but together with the people of the Narai-juku and those involved in the project, I am looking forward to seeing the development of the town in the future.