A Taishō Townhouse at the Eastern Edge of Inuyama
Former Komori Family Residence Main House (旧小守家住宅主屋, Kyū Komori-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a Machiya townhouse of 1923 at Higashikoken in Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on 4 August 2015. It is a two storey timber building with a tiled roof and a footprint of 165 square metres, registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country.
The site lies on the eastern side of the castle town below Inuyama Castle, towards its northern end. Aichi Prefecture records that Former Komori Family Residence Main House stands at the eastern end of Uoyamachi street, a route known as the Zenjino Ōkan that left the castle town heading east and joined the Nakasendō highway. The house was built just in front of the Yosaka gate, which controlled that exit.
The Komori family had carried the name since the Edo period and traded under the shop name Kiya, dealing in equipment for silkworm rearing. After the Meiji Restoration they extended their plot onto the site of the former earthen rampart, and the shape of the ground still shows it.
Later work has left its mark. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the 1923 construction alongside alterations around 1959 and a further repair in 2010.
The Low Upper Storey Called Banko-nikai
The Agency for Cultural Affairs states the reason for making the house a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in a single line: a building of the Taishō era that still carried a form inherited from the early modern period.
The evidence sits on the upper front. A corridor now runs along it, but that corridor was added later. Originally there was none, and the front was closed by latticed doors backed by a double wall. The upper floor was a low half storey, a type known around Inuyama as a banko-nikai.
Half storeys of this kind belong to the etiquette that Edo period townhouses observed in a castle town, usually explained as a way of avoiding living space above the eye level of a passing samurai. Built in 1923, Former Komori Family Residence Main House carried that convention well past the era that produced it. Aichi Prefecture describes the resulting front as typical of the Inuyama townhouse.
The ground floor keeps the pattern too. The front bays and the northern rooms on the east form the mise, the shop space, floored at a low level. The central section steps back by half a bay to make room for removing footwear. Two eight mat rooms sit side by side towards the rear on the west, with a half bay corridor and a lavatory along the north. The family altar originally stood in the southern of the two rooms; today half a bay on the west side of the northern room holds the altar and a Tokonoma.
Nine Rooms Upstairs, and a Staircase Cut Through
The upper floor is where Former Komori Family Residence Main House becomes unusual. Rooms of two bays square are arranged in three ranks, nine in total, with a half bay alcove and closet at each end, east and west. For a townhouse the plan is large, and it reflects the scale of a merchant house supplying the silk trade.
A staircase rises into the middle of those nine rooms. Fitting it in meant cutting through the partition, the threshold and the lintel of the central upper room. The earlier arrangement was different: a four and a half mat room occupied the north west corner, a corridor turned a rectangle along the south east, and the stair sat in the room north of the centre, with access to the central room through a single sliding door at the south east corner. When the stair moved, existing joinery was sawn through to let it pass.
One more detail rewards attention. The floor of the north west room sits about 40 centimetres higher than the rest, because the beams serving the formal reception room below had to be framed into the ceiling void. The status of the ground floor shows up as a step on the floor above.
Original timber survives throughout the interior. Aichi Prefecture credits carpenters working in the Inuyama tradition and notes the quality of the materials.
Visiting Former Komori Family Residence Main House
Former Komori Family Residence Main House is privately owned. The interior is not normally open, so a visit means looking at the exterior from the street. The building is a home, so do not enter the plot and do not point a camera through the windows. Photographing the facade from the public road is fine.
Stand on the far side of the street and compare the upper lattice with the low eaves beneath it. That relationship is what remains of the banko-nikai front.
To get there, walk west from Inuyama Station on the Meitetsu Inuyama Line towards the castle town, about fifteen minutes. Former Komori Family Residence Main House sits at the eastern end of Uoyamachi street, which runs east and west through the northern part of the old town, just short of where the Yosaka gate once stood. Inuyama Yūen Station is a similar distance away.
Registered properties in the prefecture are sometimes opened for special viewing events. If you want to see inside, contact the Historic Town Planning Division of the Inuyama City Board of Education on 0568-44-0354. The city holds a large number of registered buildings and publishes the full list on its cultural properties page.
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Q&A
- Can you go inside Former Komori Family Residence Main House?
- Not normally. The house is privately owned and lived in, so visitors see the exterior from the street.
- How do you reach Former Komori Family Residence Main House from Inuyama Station?
- Walk west towards the castle town for about fifteen minutes. The house stands at the eastern end of Uoyamachi street in the northern part of the old town. Inuyama Yūen Station is a similar distance.
- What is the banko-nikai of Former Komori Family Residence Main House?
- It is the local Inuyama term for a low half upper storey. The upper front of the house originally took this form, with latticed doors backed by a double wall and no corridor.
- When was Former Komori Family Residence Main House built and registered?
- It was built in 1923, altered around 1959 and repaired in 2010. It was entered on the national register of tangible cultural properties on 4 August 2015.
- Is photography allowed at Former Komori Family Residence Main House?
- You may photograph the exterior from the public road. As this is a private home, please stay off the property and avoid photographing the interior.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Komori Family Residence Main House (旧小守家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 498 Higashikoken, Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 4 August 2015 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 165 square metres |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Interior closed to the public. Exterior visible from the street |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Former Komori Family Residence Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010607
- Aichi Prefecture, Announcement on the Registration of Tangible Cultural Properties (Structures), 13 March 2015
- https://www.pref.aichi.jp/soshiki/bunkazai/0000080902.html
- Aichi Prefecture, Document 3: Grounds and Outline for Registering Former Komori Family Residence Main House
- https://www.pref.aichi.jp/uploaded/attachment/49838.pdf
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Council for Cultural Affairs report on registration of tangible cultural properties, 13 March 2015
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/pdf/bunkashingi_toshin_150313.pdf
- Inuyama City, Cultural Properties of Inuyama City
- https://www.city.inuyama.aichi.jp/kurashi/bunka/1001063/1001068.html
Last verified: 2026.09.01