Steep Thatch Farmhouses

Steep Thatch Farmhouses is an original illustration set in Gifu Mountains, Japan. It lies in mid-latitudes, where the climate is humid subtropical — hot summers, no dry season.

Farmhouses stand with extremely steep A-frame roofs of thick thatch, ridge weights and layered thatch cross-sections clearly visible. Green paddy fields surround them in summer, with forested mountains rising close behind under a clear morning sky.

Why is this roof pitched so steeply?

A roof pitched that steeply is a snow strategy standing in a summer landscape: snow slides off before its weight can build, and the deep loft space it creates was used for silkworm rearing. Thatch this thick insulates in both directions. Heavy snow with hot wet summers marks a mountain valley on the windward side of a range facing a cold sea.

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