Minka-Japanese immigrant houses in Ribeira Valley, Sao Paulo, Brazil

The paper analyses the process of housing developed by the Japanese immigrants in Ribeira Valley, in the southern state of Sao Paulo, which occurred in the early twentieth century. Based on the historical context of the early colonisation of the region and the constraints that have enabled the creation of the colony, the paper seeks to ascertain how the houses were built, based on auto-construction and with earth and wood, which conform the repertoire of nearly 500 homes. It focuses on two examples, in which the technique, the tsuchikabe and the sambladuras are analysed, while noting that, even facing the nature adversities, distinct from those of their origins, high quality homes were built by the Japanese immigrants. The knowledge brought from the Far East was applied, which mingled with caboclo, quilombola and European influences is still that today, after a century, representing a meaningful and varied category in what constructive, typological and programmatic aspects are concerned.