Sarasa Nishijin

Due to fire safety and size restrictions, baths were never a part of traditional machiya (townhouse)?design. Instead, people bathed communally in sento (public bath-houses). Thus, as machiya life disappeared, so did the sento. This 1920s bathhouse closed at the end of the last century, but re-opened in 2000 as a 50-seat cafe serving coffees, cakes and bowls of rice. The renovation was gentle, preserving the wooden beams, ceramic tiles and an ivy-covered facade, but adding sofas and a kitchen. This is a highlight among the cafes in Kyoto.