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Origin of the Name “Itteki Memorial House”: The name commemorates Mr. Minakami Tsutomu, son of the original builder Minakami Kakuji, who spent his life carrying forward the Zen spirit of Japan’s “Itteki (One-Drop)” master—treasuring every resource and using even the tiniest drop to its fullest. It also honors the volunteers who, through selfless labor, proved that drops of goodwill can merge into the force that accomplished this transnational relocation. Hence: “Itteki Memorial House.” A Passionate, Selfless Transnational Relocation: Relocated from a wooden house in Ōi-chō, Fukui Prefecture, Japan, the Tamsui Itteki Memorial House was built c. 1915. Born from the friendship forged after Japan’s Great Hanshin Earthquake and Taiwan’s 921 Earthquake, it was dismantled in 2005 and re-erected in December 2009 after a five-year, 3,000-kilometer journey. Beyond serving as a platform for Taiwan–Japan exchange, it is a spiritual citadel of community building across borders. Inside, the “Minakami Tsutomu Library” and “Shunshin Chin Library” foster modern literary dialogue between the two cultures. Savoring the Vocabulary of a Century-Old Minka: Built by the novelist’s father, Minakami Kakuji, the 600-plus beams and posts are joined without a single nail, using more than twenty kinds of interlocking joints that exemplify Japan’s wooden-architecture zenith. The central daikokubashira—the third post from the entrance, longest and bearing the greatest number of cross-beams—symbolizes the household head. At its top rests the mune-fuda: a wooden tag wrapped in red cloth recording the construction year and the master carpenter’s name; around it, a pair of straw sandals cut in half at the ridge-raising ceremony, signifying “here we plant our roots and move no more.” Fascinating and evocative.