A HOUSE, PATIENTLY REAWAKENED
暮らしを紡ぐ家
Ōmori, Iwami Ginzan · Ōda, Shimane
In the historic town of Ōmori, a house built in 1789 continues to gather new stories. Once the residence of a local samura house, Abeke had fallen into disrepair before Tomi Matsuba began bringing it back to life. Living in the house as she repaired it, she developed its spaces gradually, through years of attention, practical decisions and care.
Today, it welcomes guests into a way of living rooted in the house and its surroundings. The building’s past remains present in its timber, surfaces and changing levels, while daily use gives these inherited spaces a continuing purpose.
Light filters through paper screens. Rooms unfold through layers of shadow. Objects, materials and small arrangements invite a closer look. The atmosphere recalls the sensitivity to darkness described in Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows: beauty becomes perceptible through the depth and softness of the light around it.
Behind this atmosphere lies a passionate commitment. Restoring an old house requires countless decisions, many almost invisible once the work is done. At Abeke, the care extends from the building to the gestures of welcoming, preparing and sharing that make it a living place.
For Inhabiting Absence, this house opens an important question: what happens when someone stays long enough to understand what a place can become?
Its second life has emerged through that sustained relationship—between a house, the people who care for it, and the lives it continues to welcome.
暮らす宿 他郷阿部家｜石見銀山 大森町 -旅先で見つけた、もうひとつの故郷。