A shelter built over a well
The Kamiya Family Residence Well House (神谷家住宅井戸屋形, Kamiya-ke Jūtaku Idoyakata) is a late Meiji-period well shelter in Izumicho, Anjo City, Aichi Prefecture, registered as a National Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 April 2008. It measures 3.7 metres across the front and 2.8 metres in depth, with a floor area of 18 square metres, and stands immediately north of the long Yokoya wing that runs down the eastern edge of the estate.
The building is small, but nothing about it is careless. The core has a gabled roof of pantiles, and eaves extend from the east and north sides to widen the usable floor. Four posts carry the core, each leaning very slightly inward at the top. At the centre sits a well curb assembled from cut stone, ringed by a washing area. The eaves sections were added in the early Showa period.
The Kamiya Family Residence Well House carries registration number 23-0298. Fourteen buildings on the same estate were registered together on that single day, and this is one of them.
Why a utility building was worth registering
The registration criterion applied here is contribution to the historic landscape of Japan. On the Kamiya estate, the survival is unusually complete: not only the reception rooms and the storehouses, which a family has every reason to keep, but also the kettle house, the plasterer's room and this well shelter. When rural landowning households modernised, the water and fire facilities were normally the first things to go. Their presence changes what the whole estate can tell us.
The main house at the centre of the compound follows a different track. It is not a national registration but a City of Anjo Designated Cultural Property, designated in 1986, and is thought to date from the middle of the Edo period. Visitors sometimes assume a single legal status covers the whole property; it does not.
What to look for
Start with the posts. The slight inward lean, called uchikorobi, is a technique associated with pagodas and bell towers, where it steadies the silhouette. Finding it on a shed built over a well says something about the carpenters who worked this estate and the standard they applied even to service buildings.
The pulley for the well bucket survives at the centre. Before electric pumps arrived, the bucket travelled up and down through it. The stone curb below is cut and fitted with tight joints at the corners.
The core has no walls at all, while the eaves sections are clad in horizontal boards. That contrast between open and closed gives the Kamiya Family Residence Well House its light appearance, and it also means air moves through the structure on a summer afternoon.
Visiting and access
This is part of a private home and is not open to visitors. You cannot enter the grounds, and the well shelter itself stands too deep inside the compound to be seen closely. What you can see from the public road is the outward face of the estate: the main gate, the fences and the roofline behind them. Photography should be limited to the street, without pointing a lens into the grounds or the living quarters. The City of Anjo makes the same request about its historic buildings generally, noting that most are privately owned.
To reach the area, take the JR Tokaido Line to Anjo or Mikawa-Anjo Station, then the city Ankuru bus on the Nanbu line, getting off at Kaminokiri or Izumi Jozanen. Services are infrequent, so check the timetable before setting out. Izumicho is the birthplace of Ishikawa Jozan, the early Edo-period soldier turned poet who later built Shisendo in Kyoto, and the city garden named Jozanen lies about a seven-minute walk to the south. It opens from 9:00 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:30, and closes on Mondays, or the following day when a Monday falls on a national holiday, and over the new year period.
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Q&A
- Can visitors go inside the Kamiya Family Residence Well House?
- No. It belongs to a private home that is not open to the public. The grounds are closed to visitors, so the estate can only be viewed from the public road outside.
- When was the Kamiya Family Residence Well House registered?
- On 18 April 2008, under registration number 23-0298. Fourteen buildings on the estate were registered on the same date.
- How large is the well shelter at the Kamiya estate?
- It is 3.7 metres across the front, 2.8 metres deep, and 18 square metres in floor area, built of timber with a tiled roof.
- How do I get to the Kamiya Family Residence Well House?
- Take the JR line to Anjo or Mikawa-Anjo Station and ride the Ankuru community bus on the Nanbu line to Kaminokiri or Izumi Jozanen. Buses run only a few times a day.
- What else on the Kamiya estate is registered?
- Fourteen buildings in total, including the reception room, inner room, main gate, rice storehouse, grain storehouse, treasure storehouse, rear storehouse, the Yokoya wing, the connecting passage, and several workrooms.
Basic Information
| Name | Kamiya Family Residence Well House (神谷家住宅井戸屋形) |
|---|---|
| Location | 13 Kaminokiri, Izumicho, Anjo City, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | 2008 (Heisei 20), registered |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Frontage 3.7 m, depth 2.8 m, floor area 18 square metres |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Not open to the public; exterior of the estate visible from the public road |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Kamiya Family Residence Well House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007047
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kamiya Family Residence Well House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/198039
- City of Anjo: Historic Buildings
- https://www.city.anjo.aichi.jp/shisei/shisetsu/kyoikushisetsu/maibun-structure.html
- Anjo City Cultural Properties Catalogue: Kamiya Family Residence Main House
- https://www.katch.ne.jp/~anjomuse/bunkazai_zuroku/kamiyake_jyuutaku/index.html
- City of Anjo: Jozanen Garden
- https://www.city.anjo.aichi.jp/shisei/shisetsu/kyoikushisetsu/jozanen.html
Last verified: 2026.08.30