{"id":12024,"date":"2022-10-05T12:26:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-05T03:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.machiya-inn-japan.com\/blog\/?p=12024"},"modified":"2026-01-23T15:19:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T06:19:36","slug":"what-is-a-machiya-a-brief-history-on-traditional-japanese-townhouses-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.machiya-inn-japan.com\/blog\/what-is-a-machiya-a-brief-history-on-traditional-japanese-townhouses-2\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Machiya? Guide to Traditional Japanese Houses"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quick Answer: Machiya (\u753a\u5bb6) are traditional Japanese wooden townhouses that date back over 1,000 years to the Heian Period (794 AD). These distinctive narrow buildings served dual purposes as both residences and storefronts for merchant families, featuring characteristic long layouts, latticed windows, and interior courtyard gardens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,88,111],"tags":[92,100,108,166,167,469,640],"class_list":["post-12024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kyoto","category-kanazawa","category-takayama","tag-kyoto","tag-kanazawa","tag-travel","tag-takayama","tag-japan","tag-post","tag-traditional-japanese-architecture"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is a Machiya? Guide to Traditional Japanese Houses - MACHIYA Magazine | A Blog by MACHIYA INNS & HOTELS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover what machiya are: traditional Japanese townhouses with over 1,000 years of history. 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