Haruo Nishio

I graduated from university in 1994 after studying philosophy. Soon after, I moved to Miyama, a rural village in northern Kyoto Prefecture, where I began my apprenticeship as a thatcher. At that time in Japan, although there were still many veteran thatchers in their sixties, the younger generation had almost disappeared. There were only three thatchers in their twenties nationwide, and the craft itself was on the brink of extinction. In 1997, I traveled to the United Kingdom and trained there for one month. This experience had a profound impact on me, not only in terms of technique, but also through exposure to the culture and spirit that supported traditional thatching in Britain. In 1999, I developed depression and left the profession, turning instead to work in real estate sales. After four years away from the craft, I made the decision to return to thatching. I traveled throughout Japan, visiting thatchers across the country to learn directly from them and to rebuild both my skills and my commitment to the work. In 2007, I founded my own company and resumed my career as a professional thatcher in earnest. In 2011, I began operating thatched-roof houses as private rental accommodations, opening them to guests as places not only to stay, but to experience. Today, my work goes beyond preserving and repairing thatched roofs. I focus on reviving old houses as living cultural spaces where people can physically experience nature, architecture, and the flow of time. I believe my role is not simply to save buildings, but to pass on, through space and lived experience, the senses and communal wisdom that modern life has nearly forgotten, carrying tradition forward not as a relic of the past, but as a living culture for the future.