Former Imai Family Residence Parlor Wing

The Reception Rooms Behind the Shop

The Former Imai Family Residence Parlor Wing (旧今井家住宅座敷棟, Kyū Imai-ke Jūtaku Zashikitō) is a late-Meiji block of reception rooms in Shinmachi, Sakura City, Chiba Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on December 5, 2019. It is attached to the back of the main house of the Imai family, kimono merchants who traded as Surugaya, and contains the formal Zashiki rooms where guests were received.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the Former Imai Family Residence Parlor Wing to the late Meiji period, between 1898 and 1912. It is a single-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 37 square metres; Sakura City’s plan gives the floor area as 37.03 square metres.

The same plan, however, describes the wing as a mid-Meiji building that was moved here in the late Meiji period. On that reading, the date in the national record would mark the move rather than the construction. Published sources do not settle the question, so the building’s age remains open.

Why It Was Registered

Of the three registered buildings on the plot, the Former Imai Family Residence Parlor Wing is the only one listed as a model of architectural form. The main house and the storehouse were registered for their contribution to the streetscape; this wing was recognised for its own design and finish.

The official description points to the main room with its alcove and staggered shelves, walls finished in grey plaster, and a ceiling of generously wide boards. Set beside the working shop at the front, it shows how much a merchant family was prepared to spend on the rooms where it entertained.

What to Look For

The wing runs north to south. Its north end is hipped, while the south end, where it meets the main house, is finished as a simple two-sided roof that slots neatly against the gable at the back of the shop.

The entrance sits toward the south end of the east side, giving the wing a door of its own apart from the shopfront on the street.

Inside, four rooms are arranged in a staggered plan. The main room is a 6-mat space with a Tokonoma alcove and chigaidana shelves, and its walls are coated in nezumi shikkui, a mouse-grey Shikkui plaster, rather than the usual white. Overhead, wide boards were used without stinting. That pairing of soft grey walls and broad grained wood is what gives the room its quiet formality.

Visiting

Because it sits directly behind the main house, the Former Imai Family Residence Parlor Wing is largely hidden from Shinmachi Street.

The property has been used as a restaurant since February 2026, but public sources do not say whether the parlor wing is part of the dining space. If you would like to see the main room with its alcove, ask the staff when you visit. There are no separate viewing days or admission fees.