TAKAHASHI, Okayama -- Located in the mountains at an altitude of 550 meters, the Fukiya district of Takahashi, Okayama Prefecture, is in an area dubbed "Japan's Machu Picchu" after Peru's World Heritage Site.
Drive along the winding mountain road and you will see a cluster of red buildings against the blue sky and white clouds.
A powder made from iron sulfide taken from a nearby mine was processed into a pigment called bengala.
Rich merchants of the Edo period (1603-1867) who made a fortune producing and trading bengala built their residences with plaster walls dyed with the pigment, along with tiles of a reddish-copper color.
In 1977, the Cultural Affairs Agency designated the district as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. A 71-year-old woman who runs a sake shop in the district said, "The color of the bengala somehow makes me feel calm."
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