Machiya stand out from the ordinary Kyoto streetscape because they have some distinct features which modern buildings do not have. As their form and structure evolved over the
centuries, they gained new features while they lost others, which had fallen into disuse. Others, such as the age-mise, have almost vanished not necessarily due to disuse, but to a
constant and ongoing diminution of many machiya themselves. In this section, we will have a look at some of the special traits of kyō-machiya.