Yamauchi Family Residence Main House
The Yamauchi Family Residence Main House (山内家住宅主屋, Yamauchi-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is the gable-fronted Machiya townhouse of a kimono merchant family on the old Ushū Kaidō highway in Fukibari, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture, built in the early Showa period and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 2, 2007.
Yuzawa City records that Yamauchi Saburōbei, the seventh head of the family, began building it in 1931 and celebrated its completion on September 9, 1934. The architect was Takadō Tokuji, an Akita native with an office in Tokyo.
It is a two-story timber house with a building area of 258 square meters, measuring 12.5 Ken by 5.5 ken. The gabled roof is turned end-on to the street in the Tsumairi manner. The city counts it among the largest traditional townhouses left in Yuzawa and says it stood out from everything else on the highway when it was new.
Why the Main House Was Registered
The Yamauchi Family Residence Main House was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs points to two things: the street gable, where beams are stacked in several tiers, and the many pent roofs attached to the front and sides. Between them they give the exterior its lively, broken outline.
The plan follows the merchant-house pattern. The shop occupied the front, facing the road; a beaten-earth passage ran back along one side; and the principal reception room was placed upstairs. One of the city's photographs is captioned as the main house's former shop, a reminder of what the street-side rooms were for.
Shūken Jihō, the newsletter of the Akita Construction Industry Association, sums up the building as plain but exacting in its details.
What to Look For: Stacked Beams and Green Glazed Tiles
Cross the road and look up at the gable. Beams step up in layers toward the ridge, and small roofs project between them. More of these wrap around the sides, so the silhouette keeps changing as you walk along the highway.
The roof is laid with deep green glazed tiles. According to Shūken Jihō, they are ceramic tiles fired in Seto, the pottery town near Nagoya, and nothing like them is found elsewhere in the district. The same article points out the large Onigawara ridge-end tiles.
Inside, most posts and beams are keyaki, Japanese zelkova, a hard and handsomely figured wood. The city says the family had been gathering this timber since the time of the fifth-generation head.
Visiting the Main House
The Yamauchi Family Residence Main House is a private home and its interior is normally closed. The exterior can be seen from the old Ushū Kaidō, and the stacked beams and roof tiles read better from the far side of the road than from directly in front.
The only chance to go inside is the open-house day that Yuzawa City holds once a year. The 2026 open house uses the main house and the document storehouse as its venues, with processional regalia associated with the Yamauchi family and photographs of the town's daimyo procession on display.
No photography rules are published. Keep outdoor photos to the public road, and ask the staff before photographing indoors on an open day. The Yamauchi Family Residence page covers directions and open-house details.
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Q&A
- When was the Yamauchi Family Residence Main House built?
- Yuzawa City says construction began in 1931 and the completion was celebrated on September 9, 1934. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the early Showa period.
- What are the green roof tiles on the Yamauchi Family Residence Main House?
- They are deep green glazed ceramic tiles. Shūken Jihō reports that they were fired in Seto and are unusual in the Yuzawa area.
- How big is the Yamauchi Family Residence Main House?
- It is a two-story timber building measuring 12.5 ken by 5.5 ken, with a building area of 258 square meters. It is counted among the largest traditional townhouses in Yuzawa.
- Can you go inside the Yamauchi Family Residence Main House?
- Normally no. The interior opens on Yuzawa City's annual open-house day, and the main house and the document storehouse are the venues for the 2026 open house.
- Who designed the Yamauchi Family Residence Main House?
- Takadō Tokuji, who ran the Takadō architectural office in Tokyo. He was born in Akita, and the house is known as a work he left in his home prefecture.
Basic Information
| Name | Yamauchi Family Residence Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-1-4 Fukibari, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2007/10/2 (Heisei 19) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 12.5 ken by 5.5 ken; building area 258 square meters |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Normally closed; interior open on Yuzawa City's open-house day |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Main House (Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006329
- Cultural Heritage Online: Main House (Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/171632
- Yuzawa City: Yamauchi Family Residence Main House and six other buildings (Japanese)
- https://www.city-yuzawa.jp/site/bunkazai/2216.html
- Akita Prefecture: Yamauchi Family Residence, registered 2007 (Japanese)
- https://www.pref.akita.lg.jp/pages/archive/3375
- Akita Construction Industry Association, Shuken Jiho: Yamauchi Family Residence (Japanese)
- https://a-kenkyo.or.jp/shuken/0804/isan.html
- Yuzawa City: Open house of the Yamauchi Family Residence, September 27, 2026 (Japanese)
- https://www.city-yuzawa.jp/site/bunkazai/6523.html
Last verified: 2026.09.25
