What the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin is
The Sugiura Family Residence Shoin (杉浦家住宅書院, Sugiura-ke Jūtaku Shoin) is a mid-Meiji reception wing in Isshiki, Nishio City, Aichi Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 31 October 2022.
It joins the west end of the main house of the same residence and was built for receiving guests. The structure is timber and single-storey, under a Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles, with a building area of 62 square metres. Within one compound the work of the household and the work of formal hospitality were given separate buildings.
The Sugiura had lived in Isshiki since the first half of the 18th century, running shipping, opening reclaimed rice land, working salt pans and brewing, and holding an appointment as merchants supplying the Nishio domain. Their main house dates from the closing years of the Edo period; the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin came later, in the middle of the Meiji era. The compound was not built at once but added to across generations, and the gap between the 2 buildings records that.
Two rooms of 10 mats, set side by side
The plan of the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin is plain. Two rooms of 10 tatami mats each are set side by side on an east to west axis, with a veranda running along the outside. The western room is the kami-no-ma, the upper room; the eastern one is the tsugi-no-ma, the antechamber. The room of higher rank is the further one in.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs database records the construction period as 1883 to 1897. That places the building in the decades when a household of this standing would set aside an entire structure for guests rather than a room within the house.
Its registration number is 23-0584, and it belongs to the 103rd round of registrations, the same round as the main house. The criterion applied was that the building is a model of its form. Nishio City describes it as a good example of modern Japanese-style architecture, the current that carried traditional carpentry into the Meiji era and beyond.
The alcove of the upper room, and a polished cedar post
The Sugiura Family Residence Shoin forms part of a private home and is closed, so what follows comes from the registration survey and Nishio City's published description rather than from anything a visitor can see.
The interest of the building gathers in the alcove wall of the upper room. A wide tokonoma alcove 1.5 ken across, roughly 2.7 metres, occupies the centre. Beside it a tokowaki recess holds staggered shelves and a small cupboard set high in the wall. The post that frames the alcove is a length of cedar with the round of the trunk left on and the surface polished, not a squared timber. It softens a corner of the room that would otherwise be governed entirely by straight lines.
Nageshi tie-rails run around all four walls at lintel height. Between the two rooms sit plain board Ranma transoms, solid panels rather than the pierced carving often used in the position. The elements of Shoin-zukuri are all present, the alcove, the recess, the tie-rails, but the treatment stays restrained.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs description sets this room against the Buddhist altar room of the main house, which carries a raised bay for the altar itself and is formal in a different register. One building of the compound is arranged for facing the Buddha, the other for facing a guest. The contrast is the useful way into looking at the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin.
Visiting the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin
The Sugiura Family Residence Shoin cannot be visited. Nishio City states on its cultural property page that the building is a private home and closed to the public. Neither the interior nor the grounds are open, there is no admission desk and no fee, and no special opening has been announced.
It is part of a house where a family lives. Do not enter the grounds, do not stop at the gate, and do not point a camera at the buildings or the people in them. Enquiries about the property are handled by the Cultural Properties Division of the Nishio City Board of Education (telephone 0563-56-2459).
The Isshiki district is easy to reach by public transport. From Nishio Station on the Meitetsu Nishio Line, a Meitetsu Tobu Kotsu bus on the Isshiki route reaches the Isshiki-chō Kōminkan stop in about 14 minutes, and a library and community hall stand beside it, where the history of the town and of the Sugiura household can be looked into. Please do not go walking the streets in search of the building itself.
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Q&A
- Can the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin be visited, and is the interior open?
- No. The Sugiura Family Residence Shoin is part of a private home and is closed. Neither the interior nor the grounds are open, there is no admission desk and no fee, and no special opening has been announced. Please do not enter the grounds or photograph the buildings or their residents.
- When was the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin built?
- In the middle of the Meiji era. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database records the construction period as 1883 to 1897. It was added as a reception wing after the main house, which dates from the closing years of the Edo period.
- How is the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin built and laid out?
- It is timber and single-storey, with a gable roof of pantiles and a building area of 62 square metres. Two rooms of 10 tatami mats sit side by side east to west with a veranda outside them. The western upper room has an alcove 1.5 ken wide, about 2.7 metres, with staggered shelves and a high cupboard beside it.
- When did the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin become a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, and on what grounds?
- It was registered on 31 October 2022 under registration number 23-0584, in the 103rd round of registrations. The criterion applied was that the building is a model of its form, and Nishio City describes it as a good example of modern Japanese-style architecture.
- How does the Sugiura Family Residence Shoin differ from the main house?
- The main house is a late Edo townhouse with an earth floor across its eastern half and a raised six-room plan to the west, and its altar room carries a raised bay. The Shoin is a mid-Meiji reception wing with an alcove, a recess and tie-rails in the manner of shoin architecture. The Agency for Cultural Affairs description points to the difference in character between them.
Basic Information
| Name | Sugiura Family Residence Shoin |
|---|---|
| Location | Isshiki, Isshikicho, Nishio City, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2022 (Reiwa 4) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single-storey, tiled roof, building area 62 square metres |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Closed. Part of a private home; neither the interior nor the grounds are open |
References
- National Designated Cultural Properties Database, Sugiura Family Residence Shoin (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00014393
- Cultural Heritage Online, Sugiura Family Residence Shoin
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/575702
- Sugiura Family Residence Shoin (Nishio City official website)
- https://www.city.nishio.aichi.jp/sportskanko/bunkazai/1001485/1001611/1011279/1011280.html
- List of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Nishio City official website)
- https://www.city.nishio.aichi.jp/sportskanko/bunkazai/1001485/1001611/1005034.html
- Timetables and fares (Meitetsu Tobu Kotsu)
- https://www.meitetsu-toubukoutsu.com/wpbus/timetable/
Last verified: 2026.09.02