SOMA, JAPAN — ASKED why he wants to move an old Japanese farmhouse across the globe, Harrelson Stanley had a simple answer. "I have to do it," said the 44-year-old woodworker, his fingertips poking through worn gloves after weeks of pounding and pulling the house apart. "It's what I'm meant to do."
Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle Corp., built a Japanese-style estate in Silicon Valley, complete with a teahouse he imported from Japan. But Stanley is no high-flying billionaire. And this is no delicate teahouse. Stanley and his wife, Sayuri, have four kids under age 18 and an annual income that averages $65,000. The farmhouse they are shipping to their home in Pepperell, Mass., from the rice paddies of northern Japan is a massive, 6,000-square-foot structure built in 1891 of hand-hewn logs.
"My wife sees the day-to-day financial reality and says, 'This is crazy,' " Stanley said.
Here in Japan, although an overwhelming majority prefer to buy or build a new home, admirers of the nation's centuries-old wooden farmhouses, or minka, are another story. The rustic homes epitomize the unadorned beauty that is the essence of Japanese artistry, reflecting their intimate bond with nature. Powerful posts and beams arch high overhead, supporting soaring roofs and spacious interiors that open to the garden.
Once a prominent feature of the Japanese countryside, minka have largely vanished since World War II, torn down or left to decompose as much of Japan's population flocked to jobs in the cities. Kunihiro Ando, the University of Tsukuba professor of architectural design who headed a nationwide survey, estimated that the number of these thatched-roof farmhouses had dwindled from about 5 million in the 1960s to about 140,000 in 2002, and the number has since fallen.
But a quiet current of preservationists is working to save the few that are left, either in their original settings or transplanted elsewhere. Farmhouses that would otherwise be destroyed are being reincarnated as homes, restaurants and galleries. Several have been moved overseas.
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DEVOTEES of these cultural relics often fall in love with their bold, free-form spirit. Though the best, straightest wood was reserved for the samurai class, farmers made the most of what was left.
"Japan's minka are like sculptures, works of art," said architect Yoshihiro Takishita, founder of the nonprofit Assn. for Preserving Old Japanese Farmhouses. "I have looked around the world but never found another place where curved trees are used as anchor beams."
