Tobe Goemon Family Residence

The Tobe Goemon Family Residence at a glance

The Tobe Goemon Family Residence (戸邉五右衞門家住宅, Tobe Goemon-ke Jūtaku) is the compound of a riverside wharf agent on the Edo River in Nakanodai, Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, whose four buildings, centred on a main house of around 1893, became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2007.

The registered buildings are the main house, an earthen storehouse, a warehouse and a rice storehouse, all in private ownership. From the Edo period (1603 to 1868) the Tobe family ran a kashi-don'ya at the Noda upper wharf, also known as the Nakanodai wharf. A kashi was a riverbank landing where boats loaded and unloaded; the don'ya was the agent who received the cargo, stored it and sent it on.

The four buildings are not of one date. The core of the main house is mid-Meiji, its Western-style wing and the storehouse are early Shōwa, and the warehouse and rice storehouse were built in 1949. What survives is a working compound that kept being altered for more than half a century, with each stage still readable.

A wharf agent's house, and the move of 1949

Noda City notes that the counting room and formal rooms of the main house still show the layout of a wharf business: this was a family home, but also the place where accounts were kept and clients received. Around 1929 a two-storey Western-style wing was added to the house, and the earthen storehouse went up the same year.

What changed the compound's position was river engineering. In 1949, during improvement works on the Edo River, the buildings were moved to their present site by Hikiya, a method in which a building is jacked up and rolled to a new place without being taken apart.

The sources describe the move differently. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database and the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education record the relocation for the main house and the storehouse, and give 1949 as the construction date of the warehouse and the rice storehouse. Noda City says all four were moved as part of the river works. The published material cannot tell us which happened to the warehouse and rice storehouse: new construction at the time of the move, or relocation followed by heavy rebuilding.

Noda City presents the four together as a group of buildings that recalls the height of shipping on the Edo River.

How the Tobe Goemon Family Residence is laid out

The compound lies between the Edo River embankment and the street. It is easiest to read with the main house as the fixed point.

• Main house: around 1893, with a Western-style wing added around 1929. Timber, single-storey with a two-storey section, tiled roof, building area 216 square metres
• Storehouse: 1929. Stands behind the Western wing with a small forecourt between them. Two-storey earthen storehouse, tiled roof, building area 20 square metres
• Warehouse: 1949. South-west of the main house, facing the Edo River embankment. Timber, two storeys, tiled roof, building area 103 square metres
• Rice storehouse: 1949. South-east of the main house, along the street. Timber, single storey, tiled roof, building area 33 square metres

The warehouse faces the river and the rice storehouse faces the road. Stores set toward both the boats and the street fit a business that worked the line between water and town. The rice storehouse is divided in two inside: the entrance half held rice and miso, and the rear half is said to have been used for raising silkworms.

All four were entered in the 56th round of registrations on 2 October 2007, as numbers 12-0085 to 12-0088. The main house alone was registered as difficult to reproduce; the storehouse, warehouse and rice storehouse were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape.

Visiting the Tobe Goemon Family Residence

The Tobe Goemon Family Residence is still a family home, and Noda City states that the interiors cannot be visited. Viewing is limited to the exterior from public roads. Please do not enter the grounds or look in through gates and windows.

The nearest bus stop is Kamigishi on the Ibakyu bus line, about 3 minutes on foot. On Noda City's Mame Bus community service, get off at Nakanodai-iriguchi on the Tsutsumidai (route 6) or Naka (route 7) line and walk about 10 minutes. The Ibakyu line runs between Noda-shi Station on the Tobu Urban Park Line and Kita-Koshigaya Station in Koshigaya, Saitama Prefecture. On foot from the railway, Atago Station and Noda-shi Station are each about 2 kilometres away.

The warehouse faces the Edo River embankment, so its river side is seen from the embankment. The rice storehouse stands right on the street. Photograph only from the road and keep in mind that people live here. The official information lists no visitor parking.