Just north of Nijo Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, stands a row of machiya townhouses more than 120 years old. In this quiet neighborhood, six houses share a single roofline, their presence carrying the depth of Kyoto’s past. During the Heian period, the area once held the residences of the Emperor’s female court, and echoes of that history still linger in its streets.
Higashi-no-Tai is one of these houses, a place where visitors can step inside and sense the layers of time—wooden beams darkened by age, earthen walls shaped by hand, and rooms designed with the rhythm of Kyoto life in mind.
The houses belong to Yamanaka Abura, an oil shop founded over two centuries ago and still cherished by Kyoto’s residents. Their original shop is close at hand, its shelves lined with bottles of sesame and rapeseed oil, crafted with the same care that has carried the business through generations. To visit both house and shop is to see how history endures not as a relic, but as a living presence woven into the daily fabric of the city.