Ine no Funaya

Ine no Funaya are distinctive boat-house buildings facing Ine Bay at the eastern end of the Tango Peninsula in Kyoto. Unique to this area, each building has a boat garage on the first floor and living quarters on the second, and the district is designated as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The sight of more than 230 funaya lining roughly 5 km of Ine Bay is spectacular and exceptionally rare on a national scale. The funaya are built along the shoreline across the road from the main houses, and their first floors are used widely as boat slipways, storage, places to maintain fishing gear, drying areas for fish, and even space to keep agricultural products. The second floors serve as living spaces, guest rooms, and minshuku-style lodgings. To fully appreciate the funaya, viewing them from the sea is especially recommended. The Ine Bay sightseeing cruise takes about 25 minutes and lets you enjoy the nostalgic scenery of the boat-house village from the water. It is also possible to tour the inside of a funaya; at Funaya Koyo-maru, for an admission fee of 200 yen, you can enter an actually used funaya and see fishing gear as well as photos and maps, helping you learn in detail about life around Ine Bay. Ine Town is about one hour away by local bus from Amanohashidate.