Yoshihiro Takishita

YOSHIHIRO TAKISHITA was born in Gifu Prefecture in 1945 and graduated with a law degree from Tokyo's Waseda University in 1967. While still a student, he learned of a 250-year-old farmhouse (minka) near his home town that was about to be submerged in the construction of a local reservoir. Impressed by the dignity of the structure, he arranged to have the house moved to a site in Kamakura, where it was rebuilt as a home for his American foster father. He then took eighteen months off and...See more

YOSHIHIRO TAKISHITA was born in Gifu Prefecture in 1945 and graduated with a law degree from Tokyo's Waseda University in 1967. While still a student, he learned of a 250-year-old farmhouse (minka) near his home town that was about to be submerged in the construction of a local reservoir. Impressed by the dignity of the structure, he arranged to have the house moved to a site in Kamakura, where it was rebuilt as a home for his American foster father. He then took eighteen months off and hitchhiked around the world, visiting thirty-six countries. On his return in 1971, he established The House of Antiques, where he sells furniture, ceramics, and other antiques. After enthusiastic clients praised the reconstructed farmhouse in Kamakura and urged him to build more, he began rebuilding and renovating other traditional farmhouses. To date, he has carried out thirty renovations, four of them overseas. See less