The town of Ine is perched on the narrow strip of land between the mountain and the ocean, running at 5km, it has a total of 230 of these unique wooden boathouses, fronting the water, with the main family home on the mountain side of the only street in town. 
First built in the 17th century, the boathouses were simple log structures with thatched roofs, gavel fronting the sea, but over time they were converted to two story buildings with the second story becoming the home of younger family members. As the village grew land was scarce.
These funaya are small wooden structures, usually with a footprint of about 30-50m² with the lower floor being used to keep the boat and as a workspace for tending to fishing gear.
Today as more young people leave the town for work in the big city many of these funaya are let as holiday homes for tourists, and there are as many fishermen as there are water taxi operators.
The town itself is located in a shielded small cove on a peninsula that again shields the town from the ocean outside, thus amply protected from most tsunami or storms.
