Summer 2017 — Discovering the Old House
In the summer of 2017,
we were introduced to an old traditional house
through the local relocation office.
The house had been vacant for more than ten years.
As soon as we opened the door,
it was clear that time had stood still there.
Personal belongings remained,
the calendar on the wall frozen on a past month.
The floors leaned, and drawers overflowed with what had been left behind.
It was far from a beautiful place.
And yet, standing in the earthen hallway,
something quietly stayed with us.
Next to the house stretched open fields,
and beyond them, rice paddies spreading across the valley.
Nothing extraordinary,
but a landscape that felt deeply rooted in the Ina Valley.
After visiting many other places,
it was this very first house we kept thinking about.
Eventually, we chose to give this house a new life as an inn.
At the time, we were both former bankers,
with no experience in renovating old houses.
We simply began by clearing what remained.
That was how the story of nagare slowly began.
