Clancy opens our eyes to the beauty of details: carved transoms, timeworn posts and beams, paneled flooring, reed screens, dark-stained lattice windows, and the sight of now-rare woods like paulownia and zelkova. The naka-niwa (inner garden) is a miracle of spatial design. Acting as a light well and air vent for dark, stuffy interiors, these masterpieces of compression are often secreted within the walls of private homes, remaining inaccessible to the public. A meal in a machiya provides the opportunity to view these gardens at leisure.