Minka are houses lived in by ordinary people, but in architectural history or in ethnology, minka means noka or machiya that are built with traditional designs (old ones are also called kominka) in particular.
民家（みんか）とは、一般の庶民が暮らす住まいのことだが、特に建築史や民俗学で、伝統的な様式で造られた農家、町家の類を指す（年代の古いものは古民家とも）。