Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki
The Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki (山内家住宅裏座敷, Yamauchi-ke Jūtaku Ura-zashiki) is the residential wing at the very back of a kimono merchant family's estate in Fukibari, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture, built in the early Showa period and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 2, 2007.
A zashiki is a formal tatami room, and ura means rear. While the main house on the highway held the shop, the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes this building simply as a dwelling, the part of the estate given over to domestic life.
It is a single-story timber building with a partial upper floor, laid out in an L and covering 145 square meters. The roof is hipped and laid with sangawara pantiles. The walls are of the Shinkabe type, with the posts left exposed, and are partly clad in overlapping weatherboards. Its front entrance faces the main house, and its back faces a rear lane.
Why the Rear Zashiki Was Registered
Six of the seven registered buildings at the Yamauchi Family Residence were listed for their contribution to the historic landscape. The Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki alone was registered under a different criterion, as a building that serves as a model of design. The judgment concerns the building itself rather than its place in the streetscape.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a dwelling of light, easy design. Set it beside the main house, which turns a heavy gable of stacked beams to the highway, and the difference is plain: a hipped roof and exposed-post walls give the rear zashiki a quiet outline, and the public front of the estate and its private rear read as two different worlds.
What to Look For: A Formal Main Room
The main room has a Tokonoma alcove, a set of staggered display shelves called chigaidana, and a Tsukeshoin, a built-in writing desk set into a window bay. These three together are the standard fittings of a formal Shoin-zukuri reception room, and they mark this as the room for receiving guests.
Shūken Jihō, the newsletter of the Akita Construction Industry Association, gives separate sizes for the two arms of the L. The rear arm is single-story and measures 2.5 ken by 6.5 ken; the front arm has two stories and measures 4 ken by 7.5 ken. The newsletter describes the front arm as gabled with its entrance on the long side (Hirairi), whereas the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the building as hipped, so the sources differ on the roof form.
The same article reports that the rear zashiki was still lived in at the time it was written.
Visiting the Rear Zashiki
The Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki stands at the back of the property and is not open to the public. Yuzawa City's 2026 open house uses the main house and the document storehouse, not this building.
Its back faces a rear lane, but it is someone's home. If you pass that way, stay on the road and keep away from the windows. The Yamauchi Family Residence page covers directions and open-house details.
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Q&A
- What kind of building is the Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki?
- It is an L-shaped residential wing at the back of the estate: a single-story timber building with a partial upper floor and a building area of 145 square meters, with a hipped pantile roof and exposed-post walls partly clad in weatherboards.
- Was the Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki registered on different grounds from the other buildings?
- Yes. The other six were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape, while the rear zashiki was registered as a model of design.
- What is inside the main room of the Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki?
- It has a tokonoma alcove, chigaidana staggered shelves and a tsukeshoin built-in desk, the standard fittings of a formal shoin-style reception room.
- When was the Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki registered?
- It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 2, 2007, together with the estate's six other buildings. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the early Showa period.
- Can visitors see the Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki?
- No. The interior is closed, and Yuzawa City's 2026 open house uses the main house and the document storehouse, not the rear zashiki.
Basic Information
| Name | Yamauchi Family Residence Rear Zashiki |
|---|---|
| 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 | Building area 145 square meters (L-shaped plan) |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Not open to the public |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Rear Zashiki (Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006330
- Cultural Heritage Online: Rear Zashiki (Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/186233
- 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
