Teapot Lane

Architecture has one of two end points. The best makes a mark for a few decades, sometimes a few centuries, and then gives way to something newer. The sadder end is when it has outlived its meaning and turns into a twee little zombie. When Kyoto’s Kiyomizu Dera was a bustling center of life, Sannenzaka was a busy market place full of Kyoto-style (Kyo Machiya) houses of the artisans. They had mud walls, wooden doors in front where the shop was, and sliding paper-panelled doors inside where the family lived. The purpose has gone out of their lives now that they are souvenir shops for tourists.

Chawanzaka, or Teapot Lane, seemed more alive. While Sannenzaka was full of foreign tourists, this parallel lane had very few. Most people on this road were locals, all dressed up to visit the big temple up the hill.

What a grand view it had that morning, our last in Japan. The three days of rain had passed and the sun was out on a crisp cold spring day. The straight lane provided a grand view of the temple at its upper end.

Displays of cha wan, tea bowls, distracted us from that view all along the road. There were some lovely pieces, a few in glazes that I’d not seen before.

This style of buildings on this road deviated a little from Kyo Machiya. No mud walls were in evidence, although many of the doors were in the old style. There was often a narrow roof line with the traditional tiles which stood out against a taller building at the back. I think a form of the old style of life was alive here: people lived at the back and had a shop in front. This road had evolved, as architecture should, when people’s lives change in details, while the essence remains fixed.