Eight Tatami Rooms Inside a Working Mill
The Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence is a house in Tamanoi, Kisogawa-cho, Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, built around 1932 and entered on the national list of Registered Tangible Cultural Property (buildings) on 17 August 2020. Two storeys of timber stand under a hip-and-gable roof of clay pantiles, with a floor area of 97 square metres. It adjoins the office to the north-west and has always housed the owner's family.
A low lean-to runs around all four sides. The walls are finished in white plaster, with a boarded dado at ground level and vertical boarding up to lintel height on the floor above, so timber carries the base of a largely white elevation. Every other building here is boarded and painted; this one is the exception.
Inside are eight tatami rooms shared between the two floors. The principal room on the ground floor has an alcove and a hirashoin, a shallow writing bay set against the garden wall, and light reaches it through the paper screens of that bay. The Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence keeps a domestic calm within earshot of the looms.
A House Extended Rather Than Replaced
The criterion applied at registration was contribution to the historic landscape, and nine buildings on the plot were listed together on 17 August 2020. This house carries registration number 23-0552.
The main body dates from about 1932, the same moment as the office. Additions followed around 1950 and again around 1975: storage, a lavatory, a kitchen, the parts a household needs as its habits change. Nothing was swept away to make room for them.
Registration as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property permits alteration that leaves the exterior substantially intact, which is why a building still being adapted can enter the system. That the Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence remains an occupied home, rather than a preserved shell, shows what the category is for.
The Roof and the Writing Bay
The roof combines a gable at the ridge with hipped slopes below, a form ranked above the plain hipped roofs of the main house and the office and well above the sawtooth of the mill. Seen from inside the gate, its gable end appears behind the office.
The hirashoin in the principal room is a simplified version of an element from formal shoin architecture: a board set at desk height beneath a screened opening. The joinery is restrained, and the timber is left to speak for itself.
From outside, the split between white plaster above and vertical boarding below is easy to read. The main house uses the same logic of protecting the splash zone with timber, but here the white surface dominates and the building looks softer for it.
Visiting
The Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence is a private home and the interior is closed. The official Aichi Prefecture tourism site notes that the company sometimes accepts visitors to the production areas by prior arrangement, which brings you within sight of the house. Telephone 0586-87-3323 at least two weeks ahead. Two or three visitors up to about ten are accepted, larger groups need discussion, and Saturdays and Sundays are non-working days. Checked on 31 August 2026.
No published photography policy could be found. People live here, so seek permission before photographing even the exterior.
Tamanoi Station on the Meitetsu Bisai Line is about a two-minute walk. By car, allow about 15 minutes from the Ichinomiya-nishi exit of the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway or about 25 minutes from the Ichinomiya interchange of the Meishin Expressway. From the public road only a slice of the roof shows above the office; the building can be seen properly only from within the compound.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Aichi
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence
- [ Nagoya Castle & Atsuta Shrine History Tours ]
Q&A
- Can I visit the Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence?
- The interior is closed because the house is still occupied. If a site visit is agreed, arranged by telephone on 0586-87-3323 at least two weeks in advance, the exterior can be seen at close range.
- What kind of building is the Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence?
- A two-storey timber house of about 1932 with a hip-and-gable tiled roof and a floor area of 97 square metres, containing eight tatami rooms across its two floors.
- Who lived in the Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence?
- It was built for the owner's family and is still a family home. Storage, a lavatory and a kitchen were added around 1950 and again around 1975.
- When was the house registered as a cultural property?
- On 17 August 2020, as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), registration number 23-0552.
- How do I get to the site?
- Tamanoi Station on the Meitetsu Bisai Line is about two minutes away on foot, and the site is roughly 15 minutes by car from the Ichinomiya-nishi expressway exit.
Basic Information
| Name | Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence |
|---|---|
| Location | 1 Miyamae, Tamanoi, Kisogawa-cho, Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, and others |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2020 |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | 2-storey timber structure, tiled roof, floor area 97 square metres |
| Owner | Not disclosed (privately owned) |
| Public Access | Normally closed; visits by prior arrangement |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013405
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kuzuri Woolen Industry Detached Residence
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/452230
- Ichinomiya City: Cultural Properties in Ichinomiya
- https://www.city.ichinomiya.aichi.jp/katsuryokusouzou/hakubutsukan/1044092/1024202/1036232.html
- Aichi Now, official Aichi Prefecture tourism site: Kuzuri Woolen Industry Co., Ltd.
- https://aichinow.pref.aichi.jp/spots/detail/3024/
- Ichinomiya Tourism Association: Sawtooth Roofs of the Bishu Weaving District, vol. 1
- https://www.138ss.com/feature/detail/11/
Last verified: 2026.08.31