Architectural Survey on Vernacular Houses in Eastern Bhutan
Since 2012, the Tokyo National Research Institute for Cultural Properties (TOBUNKEN) has been continuously engaged in research on vernacular houses in Bhutan, in collaboration with the Department of Culture and Dzongkha Development (DCDD), Ministry of Home Affairs, Royal Government of Bhutan. The DCDD promotes a policy of preserving and utilizing vernacular houses by integrating them into the legal protecting framework of cultural heritage, while TOBUNKEN supports the initiative from academic and technical aspects.
We conducted the first field survey for FY 2024 from May 11 to 23. For this purpose, three staff members of TOBUNKEN and two external experts from Japan were dispatched. Together with two DCDD officials, we surveyed mainly stone masonry houses in two eastern Dzongkhags (provinces): Trashigang and Trashiyangtse.
The current survey area included three villages that we had visited from April to May 2023 for the supplemental survey, in addition to three villages that were new for us.
In the Kheni village of Trashiyangtse Dzongkhag, where we visited first, we completed a detailed survey on all of five houses considered as very old in the village, including measurement taking and interviews with the residents of the houses. For three of the houses that had been surveyed last year, supplemental surveys were conducted. The other houses were also fully surveyed.
Next, at Merak and Gengo villages in Merak Gewog of Trashigang Dzongkhag, we conducted a supplemental survey on one house and new surveys on six other houses. All of these houses are single-story buildings with main entrances on the gable side. Many of them have a living room with partial wooden outer walls at the front side of the attic level. This building type is peculiar to these areas in which transhumant ethnic minorities live. In the survey on such regionally-unique-style houses, we identified 67 houses across Merak village, and revealed that around half of the houses, especially those in the center of the village, were in this style.
We then visited Sakteng Gewog of Trashigang Dzongkhag for the first time, where the same ethnic group lives. We confirmed that a similar style of houses to that of Merak existed there. However, as some of those houses were surrounded by stone fences with gates, the scenery inside the village was very different. We conducted detailed surveys of five houses in total in both adjacent Sakteng and Tengma villages. We managed to collect valuable examples, including small houses built totally of wood and water mills for producing flour. The living area of the same ethnic group expands to the neighboring Northeastern region of India. We are informed that houses of similar styles exist there, in which we are very much interested.
Additionally, we surveyed two old houses of feudal lords in Phongmey village in the same Dzongkhag. Both of them were no longer in use. One of them was severely damaged with largely deformed stone walls and in a risky condition. There is concern that such case can rapidly increase due to the depopulation in countryside. Even though it is difficult to take immediate conservation measures, it is at least required to grasp and document the locations and current situations of these old houses.
The surveys were conducted with the support of a JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) “Vernacular Stone Masonry Houses of Bhutan: A Study on the Architectural Characteristics and the Suitable Approach for Protection as Cultural Heritage” (Principal Researcher: TOMODA Masahiko).