The Tomatsu House: A Three-Storey Townhouse Reborn at Meiji-mura
Most of the buildings rescued at Meiji-mura, the open-air museum of Meiji-era architecture near Inuyama, wear Western dress: brick, columns, arched windows. The former Tomatsu House is the odd one out, a tall wooden townhouse in the Japanese tradition, and it draws the eye precisely because it does not look like its neighbours. Three storeys rise behind a sober black-plastered front, a method called nuriya-zukuri that gives the facade the look of a fireproof storehouse rather than a shop.
The house once stood in central Nagoya, near the Horikawa canal where wholesale merchants clustered. The Tomatsu family dealt in oil from the late Edo period. When kerosene and electric light arrived in the Meiji era and the demand for lamp oil fell away, they changed trades and ran a savings bank from the premises into the early twentieth century. The building reflects both lives at once.
A House Built in Stages
The Tomatsu House did not arrive at its present shape all at once. In the late Edo period it was a single-storey shop. In 1895 the family hauled the building backwards on its lot, a feat of carpentry known as hikiya, and added the front half of a second floor. The third storey followed, and by 1901 the house had reached the form recognised today. It was designated a national Important Cultural Property in 1974, after its move to the museum.
The dimensions tell the story of a city plot: narrow across the front and deep from front to back, the classic proportions of an urban townhouse, with a measured frontage of about 7.8 metres and a depth of roughly 15 metres. Wooden buildings of three full storeys were not unknown in Japan, but to carry one off on a cramped commercial lot, and to make the upper floors gracious rather than merely tall, took real skill.
Inside the Merchant's World
The ground floor keeps the plainness of a working shop, with an earthen-floored passage running the depth of the house in the old manner. Climb, and the building changes character entirely. An atrium opens through all three storeys, drawing light and air down into the core. The upper rooms are finished in the refined sukiya taste of the tea house: walls in textured ochre plaster, a post of bark-clad red pine, a lintel of cypress, latticed windows set for the view. There are tea rooms on the second and third floors, one formal and one private, and small inventive touches throughout, sliding wall slits and round and half-moon windows that let the residents glance down at the shop or out at the sky.
The contrast is the point. A stern, almost windowless exterior, partly a security measure from the banking years, conceals an interior shaped by a merchant family with the leisure and the eye for tea culture that Nagoya was known for. The upper floors are shown by guided tour rather than left open, so that the woodwork and fittings are not worn by traffic; check the museum's daily schedule for tour times.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Aichi
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Tomatsu Family Residence (formerly Located in Funairi
- [ Nagoya Castle & Atsuta Shrine History Tours ]
Q&A
- Where is the house now, and where was it originally?
- It now stands at the Meiji-mura open-air museum in Inuyama, Aichi. It was originally built in central Nagoya, near the Horikawa canal, and was relocated to the museum, where it opened in 1965.
- Why is a townhouse a national treasure-grade property?
- It is a rare wooden three-storey townhouse that records the transition of Meiji commerce, combining the plan of an Edo merchant shop below with progressive, refined living quarters above. It was designated a national Important Cultural Property in 1974.
- What did the Tomatsu family do?
- They traded in oil from the late Edo period, then turned to banking once kerosene and electric light reduced the demand for lamp oil, running a savings bank from the house into the early twentieth century.
- How did it become three storeys?
- In stages. A single-storey shop in the late Edo period was moved backwards on its lot in 1895 and given a second floor; the third storey was added by 1901, producing the form seen today.
- Can I see the upper floors?
- The second and third floors, including the tea rooms and the three-storey atrium, are shown by guided tour to protect the interior. Check the museum's schedule for tour times on the day of your visit.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Tomatsu House (originally in Funairi-cho, Nakamura Ward, Nagoya) |
|---|---|
| Location | Meiji-mura, Uchiyama 1, Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | National Important Cultural Property (designated 5 February 1974) |
| Date | Meiji period, Meiji 34 (1901), reaching its present form |
| Structure | Three storeys, gabled roof with pantiles, nuriya plaster front; frontage about 7.8 m, depth about 15 m; 1 building |
| Owner | Meiji-mura (public-interest foundation) |
| Access | Within the Meiji-mura museum (admission applies); upper floors by guided tour. |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/1250
- Cultural Heritage Online (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/200179
- Meiji-mura: Tomatsu House
- https://www.meijimura.com/sight/%E6%9D%B1%E6%9D%BE%E5%AE%B6%E4%BD%8F%E5%AE%85/
Last verified: 2026.06.24