What the Building Is
Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor (旧林家住宅主屋及び裏座敷, also written Kyū Hayashi-ke Jūtaku) is a Taisho-era house in Okoshi, Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, and it was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2002. The building is of timber, two storeys with a single-storey section, roofed in tile, with a building area of 265 square meters. It is open to visitors today as the annexe of the Ichinomiya City Bisai Museum of History and Folklore.
The site carried an official function long before the present house. Okoshi was one of the seven post stations on the Minoji, a connecting road that ran between Miya-juku on the Tokaido and Tarui-juku on the Nakasendo. From 1720 until the Meiji Restoration the Hayashi family held two posts here: keeper of the waki-honjin, the secondary official inn that took overflow from the principal one when a daimyo procession or government traveller came through, and headman responsible for the ferry across the Kiso River.
That older building came down in the Nobi earthquake of 1891. Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor was put up on the cleared ground. The main house dates from 1913; the rear parlor was added in the early Showa era, laid out in deliberate imitation of an Edo-period gentry compound. A house built with the memory of a post station in it went up more than four decades after post stations had ceased to exist.
Why It Was Registered
The criterion met here is contribution to the historic landscape of the country. What earned Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor its listing was not the age or rarity of the fabric but the part it plays in the street it stands on.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the building as modern in its handling of the parlor rooms while keeping to the older form of the large Machiya in its exterior and its detailing. New plan ideas were taken up inside; the face turned to the road held to the manner of the post town. From that combination follows the official judgement that the house is a principal element in the surviving townscape of the old station.
A family that had run the waki-honjin went on rebuilding on the same plot after the institution itself was abolished. Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor is what that continuity looks like when it takes physical form. Post towns lose their street frontages easily, and a single surviving house ends up carrying the record of the road.
What to Look For
The floor of the rear parlor sits a step above the rest. This is the detail to find first in Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor. A waki-honjin contained a jodan, a raised room reserved for guests of rank, and something of the approach to that raised room was carried into the rear parlor added in the early Showa era. The room was built with an Edo-period compound in mind, and the height of the floor still says so.
In the covered passage linking the main house to the rear parlor, the earthen wall is red. That surface was returned to its original state during seismic strengthening work begun in fiscal 2018. Repair of this kind is not a matter of making a building look old; it recovers finishes that had been lost, on the basis of evidence. The red wall is one result of the work.
See the garden with the house. The Kyu Hayashi-shi Garden south of Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor was laid out by Hayashi Koichi, the tenth head of the family, over roughly a decade from the opening years of Showa, and it holds status as a nationally registered monument. It is a stroll garden built around a pond cut in the shape of the character for heart, with stone groups assembled from Kurama stone, Momotori stone, Ibi black stone and other material gathered from several regions. Enkianthus and maple carry the colour through the seasons. The rooms are arranged to look out over it, so house and garden do not stand apart from each other.
Visiting
Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor is open as the annexe of the Ichinomiya City Bisai Museum of History and Folklore, and the ground floor is the part you can walk through. Opening hours run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last entry to the main building and last viewing of the house at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free. The museum closes on Mondays, except when the Monday is a public holiday, in which case it opens. It also closes on the day after a public holiday, unless that day falls on a Saturday, Sunday or another holiday. The year-end and new year closure runs from December 28 to January 4.
Reaching it involves a train and then a bus. Get off at Owari-Ichinomiya station on the JR Tokaido Line, or at Meitetsu Ichinomiya on the Meitetsu Nagoya Line, and take a bus bound for Okoshi from bay 2 at the Meitetsu bus centre. From the Okoshi stop the walk is 5 minutes. The museum's main building stands next door, so the two can be seen together.
Part of the house is let out for events, and the accessible area varies with what is on. Check opening days and the extent of public access with the museum before travelling.
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Q&A
- Can you visit Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor, and what are the opening hours and admission fee?
- The house is open as the annexe of the Ichinomiya City Bisai Museum of History and Folklore, and the ground floor can be visited. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with last viewing of the house at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.
- When is Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor closed?
- It closes on Mondays, unless the Monday is a public holiday, when it opens instead. It also closes the day after a public holiday, unless that day is a Saturday, Sunday or holiday. The year-end and new year closure runs from December 28 to January 4.
- How do you get to Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor from the nearest station?
- Take a bus bound for Okoshi from bay 2 at the Meitetsu bus centre by Owari-Ichinomiya station on the JR Tokaido Line or Meitetsu Ichinomiya on the Meitetsu Nagoya Line, then walk 5 minutes from the Okoshi stop. The address is 211 Shimomachi, Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture.
- When and why was Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor built?
- It replaced the waki-honjin of Okoshi post station, which collapsed in the Nobi earthquake of 1891. The main house was completed in 1913 and the rear parlor was added in the early Showa era. The Hayashi family had held the post of waki-honjin keeper and river ferry headman from 1720 until the Meiji Restoration.
- Why was Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor given cultural property status?
- It met the criterion covering buildings that contribute to the historic landscape of the country. The exterior and detailing follow the form of the large traditional townhouse, and the building is treated as a principal element of the surviving townscape of the old post station. Registration came in 2002.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor |
|---|---|
| Location | 211 Shimomachi, Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structures) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2002 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, 2 storeys with a single-storey section, tiled roof, building area 265 square meters |
| Owner | Ichinomiya City |
| Public Access | Open to the public, ground floor only, free admission |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Former Hayashi Family Residence Main House and Rear Parlor (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00002628
- Site of the Okoshi-juku Waki-honjin on the Minoji, the Former Hayashi Residence (Ichinomiya City Bisai Museum of History and Folklore)
- https://www.city.ichinomiya.aichi.jp/rekimin/1010274/1005629.html
- Visitor Information and Access (Ichinomiya City Bisai Museum of History and Folklore)
- https://www.city.ichinomiya.aichi.jp/rekimin/1010275/1005626.html
Last verified: 2026.09.01