Obara Family Residence

What Is the Obara Family Residence?

The Obara Family Residence (小原家住宅, Obara-ke Jūtaku) is the estate of an old farming family in Nanjo, Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture; six of its buildings, the oldest a rice storehouse of about 1845 and the newest an early Showa document storehouse, became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 28 June 2017. The house stands on the hills east of central Tateyama, and two gates mark the southern edge of the lot.

According to the Awa Cultural Heritage Forum, a local nonprofit, the Obara family farmed this land for generations. In the Meiji period the head of the house, Obara Kinji, sat in the Chiba prefectural assembly and then in the national House of Representatives. He later became president of the Awa Bank, a forerunner of today's Chiba Bank, and after the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 he chaired the Awa reconstruction association, raising money to rebuild the region.

A local newspaper, the Bōnichi Shimbun, reported in November 2017 that the main house was built at the end of the Edo period and extensively remodeled by Kinji in the Meiji era. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database dates that remodeling to 1896, so much of what the Obara Family Residence looks like today reflects Kinji's time as head of the family.

Six Registrations, One Estate

All six Obara Family Residence buildings were added to the national register together, in the 87th round on 28 June 2017, under consecutive numbers 12-0219 to 12-0224. Each was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for its contribution to the historic landscape. Press reports at the time noted that the registration brought the number of such properties in Tateyama to 14. The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives these dates and sizes:

• Main House: about 1859, remodeled in 1896 and extended in the early Showa period; single-storey timber house, 233 square meters in plan
• Detached Wing: about 1929; single-storey timber building, 63 square meters
• Rice Storehouse: about 1845, extended about 1992; two-storey earthen-walled storehouse, 20 square meters
• Document Storehouse: early Showa period; two-storey earthen-walled storehouse, 43 square meters
• Former Nagayamon Gate: late Edo period, altered in the mid-Meiji period; single-storey timber building, 23 square meters
• Front Gate: mid-Meiji period; timber gate 2.7 meters wide, with flanking walls and a wicket door on the west

The rice storehouse is the oldest of the group, some 14 years older than the main house. The newest are the early Showa document storehouse and the detached wing of about 1929. Only the Front Gate has a separate lot number, 55-3 Gotanbatake; the other five are registered at 54 Nanjo.

How the Estate Is Laid Out

The heart of the Obara Family Residence is the main house, set toward the north of the lot and facing south. It is the largest building here, a hipped-roof core with the kitchen and the earth-floored work area attached on its west side.

Southeast of the main house, the detached wing faces west and closes the eastern side of the grounds. West of the main house stands the document storehouse, and to the southwest the rice storehouse; both face east.

Along the southern boundary run the two gates: the former nagayamon on the west, and the Front Gate just east of it. What remains of the nagayamon is its old gate passage and the living quarters on its west side, and the formal entrance is now the Front Gate. The database dates both the remodeling of the old gatehouse and the building of the Front Gate to the mid-Meiji period, between 1883 and 1897. None of the sources consulted says when the entrance moved from one to the other.

Visiting and Getting There

The Obara Family Residence is privately owned and still lived in. It is not normally open to the public, and neither the grounds nor the interiors of the six buildings can be visited. The local nonprofit has held a guided talk at the house since the registration, but Tateyama City's pages list no regular opening days.

The two gates on the southern boundary are the parts of the estate that face outward. The main house and the storehouses sit inside the lot and are hard to see from outside. Please stay off the private property and view the gates from the road.

The nearest station is Tateyama on the JR Uchibo Line. The Obara Family Residence lies about 2 kilometers southeast of the station in a straight line.