If you have seen a figure of "about 40,000 machiya", it is out of date. That number comes from Kyoto City's 2016 follow-up survey, and the city's newer FY2024 survey puts the number at 34,580, a drop of 5,566 houses.
The slide has not stopped since Kyoto passed its machiya ordinance either. The city's own summary shows the average annual loss rate edging up from 1.68% to 1.73%, while the city reports that only 1.8% of individually designated houses had been lost.
Three surveys, three numbers
Kyoto City has counted its traditional townhouses several times. Its survey page lists city surveys in fiscal 1998, 2003, 2008–09, a 2016 follow-up and the FY2024 status survey, run jointly with the city's landscape and community-development foundation (京都市景観・まちづくりセンター) and Ritsumeikan University.
The 2008–09 survey is the baseline for the later counts. According to the city's press release of 25 August 2010, volunteers and students walked the pre-war urban districts and 12 old highways between October 2008 and March 2010 and confirmed 47,735 machiya and similar houses, defined as wooden buildings built before 1950 using traditional post-and-beam framing.
The 2016 follow-up went back to those same 47,735 addresses. The city's press release of 1 May 2017 was headlined "5,602 Kyoto machiya lost in seven years": 40,146 remained (84.1%), 5,602 had gone (11.7%), and 1,987 (4.2%) were recorded as "other", such as houses that could not be surveyed.
The FY2024 survey is the newest count. Kyoto City's page, dated 25 December 2025, says the city used a geographic information system and open data to check the 40,146 houses found in 2016, confirming 5,566 lost in about eight years and 34,580 remaining.
The comparison below lines up the three counts with the city's own loss figures.
| Survey | Method | Machiya counted | Lost since previous | Annual loss rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FY2008–09 | On-foot exterior survey, Oct 2008–Mar 2010 | 47,735 | 577 in 5 years in 18 central districts | 1.6% (those districts) |
| FY2016 follow-up | Exterior check of 2008–09 addresses, Sep 2016–Mar 2017 | 40,146 | 5,602 (11.7%) in 7 years | 1.68% (1.7% in 2017 release) |
| FY2024 | GIS and open data, published Dec 2025 | 34,580 | 5,566 (13.9%) in 8 years | 1.73% |
Occupancy data fill in the 2016 picture. Of the 40,146 houses still standing that year, the 2017 release classed 33,204 (82.7%) as occupied, 5,834 (14.5%) as empty and 1,108 (2.8%) as unclear, up from 10.5% in 2008–09 and about 6% in the first survey of the central districts.
Two warnings apply to the arithmetic. First, 47,735 minus 5,602 is not 40,146, because of the 1,987 houses the 2016 survey could not classify. Second, the FY2024 survey checked data rather than walking every street, a change of method the city states openly.
What counts as a kyomachiya
The definition matters because it decides what gets counted. The 2008–09 survey counted "Kyoto machiya and similar houses", meaning wooden houses built before 1950 with traditional framing, and the ordinance defines a kyomachiya as a wooden building that already existed when the Building Standards Act took effect, with a traditional structure and a form or design that grew out of city life, such as a roof whose ridge runs parallel to the street.
The 2008–09 survey also sorted the houses by type, which helps you read a Kyoto street. Full two-storey houses (本二階) made up 52.5%, houses with a low "middle" upper floor (中二階) 11.8%, single-storey houses 12.9%, and "signboard architecture" (看板建築), where the front was remodelled to look like a modern building, 17.5%.
Kyoto City's lodging rules list the features it expects in a certifiable machiya. They include a tiled roof, an outer wall or high fence on the neighbour's side, and at least one of a through-passage earth floor (通り庭), a tall open space above it (火袋) or a small inner garden (坪庭 or 奥庭), plus either a street-side eave (通り庇) or traditional lattice (格子).
The decoder table below explains terms you will meet on city pages, plaques and lodging listings.
| Name | Local name | What it is | Price range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyoto townhouse | 京町家 | Traditional wooden townhouse defined by the 2017 ordinance | Not published |
| Important kyomachiya | 重要京町家 | Individually designated house with a one-year demolition notice rule | Fine up to ¥50,000 for demolition without notice |
| Designated district | 京町家保全重点取組地区 | Area where all machiya fall under the notice rule | No fee stated |
| Designation plaque | 個別指定京町家を示すプレート | Plate marking an individually designated house | Free, per the city |
| Through-passage | 通り庭 | Long earth-floored passage from the street door | Not applicable |
| Signboard architecture | 看板建築 | Machiya with a remodelled modern-looking front | Not applicable |
| Certified machiya lodging | 認定京町家事業 | City-certified private lodging in a machiya | Not published |
| Demolition notice | 解体の届出 | Filing due one year before demolition starts | No fee stated |
Where and why they disappear
The FY2024 survey tried to find out which machiya are most at risk. Its summary says houses judged vacant in 2016 were lost at a rate of 27.0% by FY2024, more than twice the 11.5% for houses that were occupied, and calls vacancy the only factor with a clear effect.
Other patterns were weaker, the city says. Commercial zones also hold the largest single group of survivors: 9,034 of the 34,580 machiya stand in areas zoned commercial, and a further 7,774 in quasi-industrial zones. Machiya in commercial zones had higher loss rates than those in residential or industrial zones, houses facing roads 4 metres or wider were lost at 16.2% against 13.2% on narrower roads, and houses within 250 metres of a station were lost at 15.7%, but the city concluded that the influence of these factors was hard to judge.
Vacancy itself has risen. The 2010 release put the share of empty machiya at about 10.5% in 2008–09, and the 2017 release put it at 14.5% of the 40,146 houses remaining in 2016.
What replaces a lost machiya is often nothing at all. Of the 5,566 lost houses in the FY2024 survey, 33.5% had become vacant lots, 30.4% detached houses, 5.2% car parks and 3.3%, or 184 sites, lodging facilities, with 9.8% unknown. Of the sites that became detached houses, the city estimates from nameplate data that about 40%, or 683, were rebuilt by the same owner. Among 235 demolition notices analysed, the most common answer for the planned new use was "unknown", at 33.2%.
Lodging is a small share of current uses. The FY2024 survey estimates that of the machiya still standing, 59.1% are used purely as homes and 2.0%, or 701 houses, as lodging facilities, with 20.7% unknown.
The city also looked ahead. Its summary includes a chart projecting machiya numbers to 2075 at a loss rate of 1.7% a year; the chart's values are not given in the text, so this guide does not quote an end number.
What the 2017 ordinance does
Kyoto's answer to the losses was the Ordinance on the Preservation and Succession of Kyomachiya, Kyoto City Ordinance No. 12 of 16 November 2017. The city's 2017 press release, which reported the follow-up survey's losses, says work on an ordinance began in fiscal 2016.
The core tool is time, not a ban. Under Article 19, owners of machiya in designated districts and of individually designated important machiya must notify the mayor at least one year before they plan to start demolition, and the city then offers information, advice and other help to keep the house.
Demolition can still go ahead. The ordinance allows it once a year has passed since the notice, or earlier with the mayor's approval where preservation is objectively difficult. Demolishing an important machiya without notice, or with a false notice, can bring a non-criminal fine (過料) of up to ¥50,000 under Article 29.
The ordinance opens with a preamble on the losses. It says that since the war many machiya have been torn down as social systems changed and economic efficiency took priority, that losses continue despite many preservation efforts, and that this is "a serious crisis that threatens Kyoto's identity".
There are narrow exceptions to the one-year rule. Owners need not wait if demolition is required by an order under another law, or if a disaster or other unavoidable reason made timely notice impossible and the mayor approves; the city can also approve earlier demolition while consultation has continued for a considerable time.
Many machiya are outside the mandatory rule. For houses that are neither individually designated nor in a designated district, the ordinance only says owners "must endeavour" to notify. Demolition contractors, however, must check whether the owner has filed a notice before taking on a designated house.
The notice, consultation and penalty chapters took effect on 1 May 2018, according to the ordinance's supplementary provisions. Designation began that year, and the city's status page lists 1,702 individually designated machiya after the batch of 27 March 2026, plus 21 designated districts.
Several districts are in Gion and Pontocho. The list starts with Pontocho (designated 31 August 2018), Gion Nawate and Shinmonzen and Gion Shinbashi (both 15 October 2018), and Gion-machi Minami (10 October 2019); if you walk there, our guide to photo rules in Gion covers what residents and the city ask of visitors.
District boundaries are drawn tightly. The city's list describes the Pontocho district as about 2.1 hectares, bounded by the Kamo River on the east, a line 20 metres west of Pontocho-dori on the west, Shijo-dori on the south and a line 20 metres north of the lane known as Ryoma-dori on the north. At the other extreme, the live-work district designated in March 2020 covers about 152 hectares in Nakagyo and Shimogyo.
Individual designations have come in batches. The city's table shows groups ranging from 3 houses to 123, with the largest batches in 2019–2021 and again in December 2025 (108 houses) and March 2026 (123 houses), which is why the total keeps rising even as unprotected machiya are lost.
The city reads its figures as evidence that designation works. The FY2024 summary says that of 1,418 houses designated between September 2018 and November 2024, only 25, or 1.8%, had been lost, and that designated central districts such as the large live-work district (職住共存地区) saw their annual loss rate fall from 1.77% to 1.58% while neighbouring school districts rose.
Put the two figures side by side and the limits are clear. 1,702 designated houses, counted to March 2026, set against 34,580 machiya counted in FY2024, means fewer than one in twenty are individually protected, though the district designations cover more.
Staying in or visiting a machiya
If you want to sleep in a machiya, check which legal category the lodging falls under. Kyoto City's lodging page explains that "minpaku" can mean either a simple lodging business licensed under the Hotel Business Act or a home notified under the Private Lodging Business Act, and that Kyoto adds its own ordinance and rules on top.
The city frames its approach as a package. Its page, updated on 1 April 2026, says Kyoto combined a national law with its own ordinance, rules and guidelines so that lodgings protect the safety of residents and guests and "harmonise with the surrounding living environment", backed by a hotline for reports and on-site inspections.
In residential-only zones, the calendar is strict. Kyoto City's guide says host-absent private lodgings there may operate only from noon on 15 January to noon on 16 March each year.
Machiya get a specific exception. A lodging certified by the city as a certified kyomachiya business (認定京町家事業) may operate up to 180 days in the year from 1 April, provided it takes no more than nine guests in a single group, explains the house's features, history and way of life to guests face to face, and has a manager on call within an area the mayor approves.
That face-to-face briefing is part of the deal, not a courtesy. The city's guide says the explanation should include how to live considerately among neighbours in central Kyoto, so set aside time for it when you arrive.
For looking rather than staying, Kyoto City's machiya portal points to learning materials, a "Kyomachiya ABCs" booklet and a virtual-reality experience of a machiya interior. On the street, you can look for the free plaque the city offers owners of individually designated houses.
The survey districts are spread across the old city and Fushimi, so plan transport before you set out.
Reading the finer print
Behind the headline counts, the surveys hold detail that changes how you read a Kyoto street. The 2008–09 survey was a volunteer effort: the city's 2010 release records 2,135 surveyor-days by machiya specialists and general volunteers and 1,165 days by Ritsumeikan University students, 3,300 in all, plus 7,137 questionnaire replies from residents, an 18.5% response rate.
The losses predate the 2008–09 survey. The same 2010 release compared the central 18 former school districts surveyed in fiscal 1995–96: 927 machiya had been removed in the seven years to the 2003 survey, about 132 a year or 1.8%, and a further 577 in the five years to 2008–09, about 115 a year or 1.6%. Elsewhere in the first survey area, 2,989 had gone in ten years, about 1.5% a year.
Construction date made little difference to loss rates. The FY2024 summary sorted the remaining houses by construction period: 5.1% date from before the Meiji era, 12.0% from early Meiji, 21.5% from late Meiji, 18.5% from the Taisho era and 17.3% from the Showa years to 1950, with 25.6% of unknown date. Loss rates ran from 13.2% to 14.4% across these groups, slightly higher for houses built from the Taisho era on.
Plot size matters a little more. More than 70% of machiya stand on plots of 30 tsubo, about 99 square metres, or less, and the city found that loss rates rose above the average once plots exceeded 30 tsubo, reaching 18.8% for plots over 105 tsubo. The summary's own reading is that fairly large plots of 100 square metres or more appear to have slightly higher loss rates.
District figures show the pattern in individual neighbourhoods. The Honganji-area district fell from 611 machiya in 2008–09 to 529 in 2016 and 458 in FY2024, and the Senryogatsuji district in Nishijin from 646 to 571 to 516, but both recorded lower annual loss rates in the later period than in the earlier one. Fushimi Minamihama, designated on 31 May 2021, went from 256 to 206 to 171, with its annual loss rate falling from 2.79% to 2.12%.
The city backs designation with money and schemes rather than only rules. Its English portal lists a support fund for preserving machiya, a free plaque for individually designated houses, a renovation subsidy programme, dispatch of earthquake-resistance inspectors, a public subleasing programme for owners who want to rent out their houses, and the certified machiya lodging scheme described above.
For you as a visitor, the plaque is the easiest sign to spot, and the FY2024 summary found slower losses in several designated districts than in neighbouring school districts. Some districts are named after the temples they surround, such as the Honganji and Toji areas; if your walk ends at a shrine gate instead, our shrine visit guide covers what to do next.
What this guide does not cover
A machiya count for the whole of Kyoto City is not given here, because every survey covers only the pre-war districts and old highways, and this guide does not quote the end value of the city's projection to 2075, which appears only as a chart.
It does not list individual machiya you can tour or book, because no official register of open or licensed machiya was found on the city pages read, and it does not give room prices, which the sources do not publish.
It does not cover the foundation's full FY2024 report, which the city links to but which was not opened for this guide, or subsidy amounts for owners, which are outside a visitor's needs.