The House Behind the Shop
The Former Saito Family Residence Main House (旧斎藤家住宅主屋, Kyū-Saitō-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a single-storey timber house built around 1897 in Ichinomiya, Chiba Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 28, 2017. It was the living quarters of the Saito family, wholesalers of katsuobushi (dried bonito) and other marine goods, and it adjoins the back of the family's street-front shop storehouse.
The house covers 155 square metres under a tiled roof. According to Ichinomiya Town, it went up in the time of the family head Saito Kosuke. The national database kept by the Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to around 1897 and records alterations made between 1926 and 1945.
Trade happened out front in the shop storehouse. The Former Saito Family Residence Main House handled everything behind it: family life, and the reception of guests.
Why It Was Registered
The house was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency's citation singles out the way it opens toward the garden and calls it a fine example of modern Japanese-style domestic architecture, the kind of house built in the Meiji and Taisho eras that kept traditional forms while adapting them to new tastes.
The plan is easy to follow. The entrance is on the south side, and an inner veranda strip links three rooms in a row: an 8-mat family room (chanoma), a 10-mat middle room and a 10-mat inner room. The further in you go, the more formal the room becomes. The innermost room has a Tokonoma alcove and shelves, and carved wooden Ranma transoms decorate the partitions between rooms, marking it as the space for receiving guests.
Toward the street, the Saito compound presents the thick plastered walls of the shop. Inside the lot, the Former Saito Family Residence Main House does the opposite and opens itself to the garden. That contrast between a closed front and an open interior is what the registration rewards.
What to Look For
Start with the inner room. Sit where you can take in the alcove, the shelves and the wooden transom at once, and it becomes clear that this was the one room in the house treated as a place of ceremony.
Then look at the sequence of rooms. The 8-mat family room, the 10-mat middle room and the 10-mat inner room line up along the veranda strip, so the ladder from everyday space to guest space is written straight into the floor plan.
The garden side shows the building's character best. Where the shop storehouse faces the street with triple windows and heavy plaster, the main house opens lightly onto greenery. Front and back of the same compound could hardly look more different.
One caveat: the Agency's record does not say what the alterations of 1926 to 1945 involved, so published sources do not reveal which parts are original Meiji fabric and which were changed.
Visiting
The Former Saito Family Residence Main House is privately owned and shown to the public through a nonprofit group that looks after the compound. The Chiba Prefectural Board of Education (page updated January 2025) notes that the shop storehouse runs as a café and that the main house is open to visitors as well. No fixed schedule is published, so plan your visit around the opening of the Suya Honke café in the shop storehouse and ask the staff there how far into the tatami rooms you may go.
There is no official statement on photography indoors; ask permission before taking pictures. Because the house sits directly behind the shop storehouse, it is almost invisible from the street, and you need to enter the grounds to see the side that faces the garden.
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Q&A
- Can you go inside the Former Saito Family Residence Main House?
- Yes, according to the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education the main house is open to visitors. There is no fixed schedule, so go on a day the Suya Honke café in the shop storehouse is open and ask on site which rooms you can enter.
- When was the Former Saito Family Residence Main House built?
- Around 1897, in the time of the family head Saito Kosuke. It was altered at some point between 1926 and 1945.
- What rooms are in the Saito Family Residence Main House in Ichinomiya?
- From the south entrance, an inner veranda strip leads to an 8-mat family room, a 10-mat middle room and a 10-mat inner room. The inner room has an alcove and shelves, with wooden transoms between the rooms.
- When was the Former Saito Family Residence Main House registered as a cultural property?
- On June 28, 2017, as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, together with the shop storehouse, the storehouse and the Inari shrine on the same lot.
- Is photography allowed at the Saito Family Residence Main House?
- No official rule is published. The house is private property, so ask the staff before taking pictures. It stands behind the shop storehouse and can hardly be seen from the street.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Saito Family Residence Main House (旧斎藤家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2987-1 Ichinomiya (Torimachi 3-chome), Ichinomiya Town, Chosei District, Chiba Prefecture, and other lots |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2017/6/28 (Heisei 29) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber building, tiled roof, building area 155 square metres |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Open (visit on days the café in the shop storehouse operates; check in advance) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Saito Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011651
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Saito Family Residence Main House (Japanese)
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/222757
- Ichinomiya Town: Former Saito Family Residence Main House (Japanese)
- https://www.town.ichinomiya.chiba.jp/kankou/kankouannai/bunkazai/yuukei/419.html
- Chiba Prefectural Board of Education: Former Saito Family Residence Main House and Others (Japanese)
- https://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/kyouiku/bunkazai/bunkazai/q111-097.html
Last verified: 2026.09.25
