In the previous article, “Hitotsuya, Toward the Next View | Episode 3: A Warehouse Becomes a Production Workshop!,” I showed how a new workspace was rising from one section of a warehouse. This time, we move to the other construction site: not the main house, but the detached annex of the old folk house workshop in Iga. Here, the tokonoma and the surrounding room will be transformed into a workshop used mainly for dyeing.
The warehouse project started by building a new room over an empty concrete floor. This site is the exact opposite. We are working with an existing room in an old house and adapting it to the work we do now. The part that will change most dramatically this time is the “tokonoma”.
We Are Removing the Tokonoma!
Before the renovation, the detached annex had a traditional tokonoma. It would normally be a place for displaying a hanging scroll or flowers, but what Hitotsuya needs now is a space where dyeing work can be done. So we decided to remove this tokonoma. It is the tokonoma in the annex, though—the tokonoma in the main house will remain completely untouched!
In place of the hanging scroll, we plan to install a sink, gas stove, washing machine, and other equipment. The atmosphere will change quite a bit. 😁 Of course, the room will not be used only for dyeing, but we are making it a place where dyeing work involving water and heat can be done more easily.
▼ The detached annex of the old house before renovation. The tokonoma at the front is about to change dramatically.
Creating a New Workplace Inside an Old House
Once construction began, wooden framing was added around the tokonoma. The boundary between what will remain and what will be changed is gradually becoming visible. Unlike the warehouse project, the interesting part here is creating a new workplace while working with the original posts and walls of the old house.
▼ Carpentry has begun around the tokonoma. The framework of a new workshop is being fitted into the old space.
An old building does not have to be preserved only to be looked at. We can alter it to suit the work we do now and put it fully back into use. I think that is one way to keep an old house alive. For reference, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also provides information on the use of existing buildings.
A Dyeing Workshop Needs Water
If we are going to dye here, there is no point in making the room merely look like a workshop. We need water for working and washing, places to put tools away, and heat when required. That means proper utilities are essential. Part of the floor was opened up as preparations continued for the equipment that will run through the room.
▼ Part of the floor has also been opened. It will be hidden once the room is finished, but this work is essential to support daily dyeing.
By that afternoon, the former tokonoma had changed even further. The positions of the shelves and walls were being reorganized, making it easier to imagine the sink and other equipment that will soon be installed here.
▼ The former tokonoma has changed this much already. An old room is becoming a space made for work.
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Utilities Inside the Walls Will Support the Workshop
As the renovation moved forward, pipes began to go into the walls. Once everything is finished, they will disappear behind the sink and wall surfaces. But when the workshop is in daily use, these invisible utilities will be what support the work every day.
▼ Pipes have begun to run inside the walls. Once finished they will be hidden, so this is a view of the workshop interior that can only be seen now.
By the next day, the utility outlets had been prepared further. Removing the tokonoma is not the end of the job. Only after planning for water, heat, washing, and cleanup does the room become a place where dyeing work can actually happen.
▼ Utility outlets have also been prepared. Once the sink and other equipment are installed, most of this view will disappear.
Not All of Our Dyeing Will Happen Indoors
What we are creating here is an indoor workshop used mainly for dyeing. But not all of Hitotsuya’s dyeing work will be completed in this one room. Elsewhere in Iga we have a large stove, and we also plan to keep using the older stove that is already there.
Some work will be done indoors with the sink and gas stove. Some will be done outside with large pots and open heat. Other work will use the washing machine. Rather than forcing every task into one room, we will use the place that suits each job. That seems to fit the way we dye much better.
From Tokonoma to Dyeing Workshop
Compared with the photos from before construction, the space has changed so much that it hardly looks like the same place. Keeping the tokonoma would have preserved more of the old-house atmosphere. But our purpose in using this building is not to display its former appearance unchanged.
We use an old building for the work we do today. That means changing what needs to change and keeping what can remain. If the building becomes an active workplace again, I think that too is a very Hitotsuya way of using an old house.
Soon, a sink and tools will stand where hanging scrolls and flowers once occupied the tokonoma. There will be the sound of water, pots set down for work, and dyed cloth being washed. The day when this room becomes that kind of working scene is getting closer. 😁
Series | Hitotsuya, Toward the Next View
- Episode 1: A Big Leap!
- Episode 2: Iga Avengers, Assemble!
- Episode 3: A Warehouse Becomes a Production Workshop!
- Episode 4: A Tokonoma Becomes a Dyeing Workshop! ← This article
※ Episode 5 and later entries will be added here as they are published.