Shikiba Ryuzaburo Residence

A Psychiatrist's House Designed by the Mingei Movement

The Shikiba Ryuzaburo Residence (式場隆三郎家住宅, Shikiba Ryuzaburo-ke Jutaku) is a two-storey timber house built in 1939 in Kokufudai, Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture, which in 2021 was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a tiled roof and a building area of 180 square metres, with alterations around 1983.

Ichikawa City explains that it was the home of Shikiba Ryuzaburo, the psychiatrist who introduced the artist Yamashita Kiyoshi to the public and was known as a scholar of Van Gogh. Shikiba is a family name.

Design

According to the Agency, it was designed by Yanagi Soetsu and Hamada Shoji, with Kawai Kanjiro supervising construction. Ichikawa City likewise notes that leading figures of the mingei folk craft movement took part.

A two-storey gabled, pantiled core is joined by single-storey wings to the east and west, and the gable walls are closely patterned with tie beams and posts. Inside, the living room, reception room and study open off the entrance in an L-shape.

The city notes that, compared with other mingei houses, it has few Japanese-style rooms and is almost entirely Western in layout.

What to Look For

The Agency describes a house strongly marked by mingei design, where East and West meet: a Western fireplace alongside Korean-style board floors and fittings.

Ichikawa City points to the Korean-style flooring, a staircase chest and the Western fireplace, calling it mingei architecture that draws on Western, Japanese and East Asian elements.

Outside, the dense pattern of beams and posts on the gable walls stands out. The Shikiba Ryuzaburo Residence gathers the mingei ideas of Yanagi and his circle into the design of a home.

Visiting the Shikiba Ryuzaburo Residence

No official information on visiting conditions could be found. It is a residence, so do not enter the grounds without permission.

Questions about the cultural property can be sent to the Ichikawa City board of education cultural properties section, 047-704-8137.