New home for Japan’s abandoned ‘kominka’

A relocated ‘kominka’ in the city of Shinshiro, Japan, where the architecture firm Toda Komuten is housed. — Noriko Hayashi/The New York Times

HIGH in the foothills of the Wallowa Mountains in eastern Oregon stands a compact home of white walls, wood and shingle.

Set against a backdrop of snow-capped peaks, the house appears tiny and slightly out of place – especially when you step inside to find shoji screens, tatami mats and thick, curving rafters overhead.