A House That Changed Its Job
The Kawata Family Residence Main House (川田家住宅主屋, Kawata-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a large wooden dwelling at Minamiyamana in Fusō Town, Niwa District, Aichi Prefecture, built around 1891 and entered on Japan's register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 2 November 2018. It stands toward the northern edge of its plot, front elevation turned to the south, in a settlement on the flat land south of the Kiso River.
What makes the building unusual is that it began somewhere else, and as something else. In 1917 it was taken apart in the village of Haguro, now part of neighbouring Inuyama City, carted a few kilometres south, and reassembled here. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the original as a machiya, the shop-and-dwelling type built along commercial streets in Japanese towns. Research carried out more recently for the present custodians raises the possibility that it had been a sake brewery near the gate of the Kajiwara estate in Haguro, though this reading is offered as a proposal and has not been confirmed.
The buyers were not merchants. The Kawata family had worked these fields for generations, growing daikon radish; the second head of the house, Gensuke, moved into selling radish seed, and the third, Ihei, built up money-lending and insurance alongside it. When a town building came onto the market after its owner wound up the business, he had the means to buy it outright and bring it home.
Farm families did not usually acquire architecture this way.
Why It Was Registered
Registration came under the criterion covering buildings that contribute to the historical landscape of the country. In practice, the register's assessors singled out something more specific: the house is legible as two building types at once, and the seams between them are still visible.
The town-house evidence sits in the silhouette and the plan. The roof is irimoya, hipped above and gabled below, laid with sangawara pantiles, and the elevation carries two full storeys rather than the low loft common in Edo-period farmhouses. Inside, the rooms follow a two-row, three-room arrangement typical of urban dwellings.
The farmhouse evidence sits in what the Kawata family changed. They reversed front and back, so that the formal reception room, the zashiki, now looks out across the approach instead of hiding at the rear as it would have in town. The upper floor was converted into a sanshitsu, a rearing room for silkworms. Fusō was serious about sericulture well into the twentieth century, and a floor of this size, dry and well ventilated, was worth more to a farming household than bedrooms.
Scale mattered too. The ground floor covers roughly 196 square metres, with about 138 square metres above, which put the house among the largest in its village and gave the surrounding fields an unexpected vertical accent.
Looking at It Today
The fifth head of the family died in 2013 and the house stood empty. Rather than sell or demolish, the family and a local group chose preservation with an active use, and the registration application followed.
That decision is what makes a visit possible. The house now works as a rental space for workshops, small gatherings and coworking; a kitchen can be hired for weekend café operation; a monthly reminiscence salon for older residents of the town meets here. Photographers use the rooms for kimono portraits and for shichi-go-san, the ceremony marking children's third, fifth and seventh years. None of this is a museum arrangement, so there are no fixed opening hours and no ticket window. Anyone hoping to look inside should contact the custodians in advance through the official website, and periodic public viewing days are announced there as well.
Ask to see the upper floor. Around 2021 the ceiling boards were stripped out, exposing the roof structure that had been hidden since the move: the tie beams, the struts, the smoke-darkened underside of the tiles. Standing in that space, the argument about the building's origins stops being abstract. The timbers are heavier than a farmhouse of this date would need, and the joinery is town work.
Getting there is straightforward. Fusō Station on the Meitetsu Inuyama Line is about fifteen minutes on foot, and the house sits just north of the Maeno community hall, recognisable by the bamboo grove beside it. Photography inside is generally accepted given how the building is used, but it is courteous to ask on arrival. In spring the weeping cherry on the property flowers above a field of rape blossom, which is when most local visitors come.
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Q&A
- Can the Kawata Family Residence Main House be visited, and does it have opening hours?
- There are no regular opening hours. The building operates as a community and rental space, and viewing is arranged by prior contact through the official website. Special public viewing days are held from time to time and are announced on the same site.
- How do I reach the Kawata Family Residence Main House by train?
- Take the Meitetsu Inuyama Line to Fusō Station. The house is roughly a fifteen-minute walk, standing north of the Maeno community hall at 49 Maenomae, Minamiyamana, Fusō Town.
- Why is the Kawata Family Residence Main House described as both a townhouse and a farmhouse?
- It was built as a town building around 1891 and relocated to a farming village in 1917. The exterior and room layout kept the urban form, while the Kawata family reversed the front-to-back orientation and turned the upper floor into a silkworm rearing room. Both identities survive in the same structure.
- What is there to see on the second floor of the Kawata Family Residence Main House?
- The ceiling boards were removed around 2021, leaving the roof frame open to view. The floor was used as a rearing room for silkworms after the house arrived in Fusō, and its size and ventilation reflect that purpose.
- What does Registered Tangible Cultural Property status mean for the Kawata Family Residence Main House?
- Registration is a lighter form of protection than designation. It applies to buildings over fifty years old and allows continued everyday use and interior alteration, provided the exterior is not substantially changed. That flexibility is why the house can function as a rental and community venue.
Basic Information
| Name | Kawata Family Residence Main House (川田家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 49 Maenomae, Minamiyamana, Fusō Town, Niwa District, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration number 23-0530 |
| Year Designated | 2 November 2018 (91st round of registrations) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, two storeys, tiled roof; building area approximately 196 m². Built around 1891, relocated 1917 |
| Owner | Private (Kawata family) |
| Public Access | No fixed hours; viewing by prior arrangement, with occasional announced open days |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Kawata Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012559
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kawata Family Residence Main House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/379744
- Fusō Town official website: Kawata Family Residence
- https://www.town.fuso.lg.jp/sports/1002076/1002095/1002129/1002131.html
- Kawata Family Residence official website
- https://www.kawatakejuutaku.org/
Last verified: 2026.08.05