What the Mori Family Residence Main House Is
The Mori Family Residence Main House (森家住宅主屋, Morike Jūtaku Omoya) is a merchant-style dwelling of 1841 in the Himi district of Saijō City, Ehime Prefecture, and it was entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings) on 7 August 2023. It faces the old highway that runs inland toward Mount Ishizuchi, and it belonged to the Mori family, landowners who traded under the shop name Sumiyoshiya.
The Moris arrived in Iyo Province from Bungo (present-day Ōita) in the early Edo period and settled at this spot in Himi Kamimachi around the time of the fifth head of the house. At their height they held rights to 2,000 koku of rice, and the Saijō domain granted them the rank of village headman along with the privilege of a surname and a sword. The shop name Sumiyoshiya was taken up around 1813, when the seventh head died, and the eighth head, Mori Naotsugu Koreyoshi, put up the present building in 1841.
Four more registered structures stand on the same plot: a garden parlor, a detached wing, a bathhouse and a gate reserved for the domain lord. The main house sits at the centre of that arrangement and forms the face the property turns to the street.
Two Roofs, One Building
The property was registered under the criterion covering buildings that contribute to the historic landscape of Japan. What the assessors valued was the survival of an entire Edo-period landowner's compound rather than a single structure.
The Mori Family Residence Main House is a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a floor area of 400 square metres. Two separate two-storey blocks, each with a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles and entered from the long side in the Hirairi manner, stand side by side. Their eaves almost touch, and a valley gutter carries the water away where the two roofs meet, so that from the road the pair reads as one very long building.
The two blocks did different work. The front one held the mise-no-ma, the room where business callers were received, together with the formal Zashiki. The rear one held the Buddhist altar room, the kitchen and the other spaces the family used out of sight. At the upper end of the front block a projecting wing was built out and its floor raised to make a jōdan-no-ma, a room of higher status. On the street side the house presents a Shikidai step-up entrance two ken wide, roughly 3.6 metres, with an alcove beside it.
Documents kept by the family show this was not empty formality. A record dated 1864 sets out exactly which rooms were used, and how, when the lord of Saijō came to call. The building that matches those instructions is still standing, and that correspondence between paper and timber is a large part of why the house matters.
What to Look For
Start from the road and take in the length. The roofline of the Mori Family Residence Main House runs far along the street frontage, and the twin gables with their shared valley are legible from outside without any explanation.
At the entrance, look at the width of the shikidai. This raised board was where a guest stepped straight down from a palanquin into the house, and few families could justify one this broad.
Inside, the raised room in the projecting wing is the thing to see. From beside it a covered passage runs north to the bathhouse. The garden parlor lies to the south-west and the detached wing, which contains a tea room, to the east. Everything built for receiving guests branches off the main house.
Tatami and fittings have been replaced in stages by the volunteers of the Himi Old House Research Association, and the repairs are left visible rather than disguised. Visitors get an unusually plain view of how a house of this age is actually kept standing.
Visiting
The Mori Family Residence Main House is cared for by the Himi Old House Research Association, a foundation that opens the property to the public under the Sumiyoshiya name. Opening is on the second Saturday of each month, and on the first Saturday in August and October, from 10 a.m. to noon. The house is closed on all other days; group visits or other dates require arrangement with the foundation in advance.
No admission charge is published on the foundation's website, and none could be confirmed while this article was prepared. Photography rules are likewise not stated online, so ask the volunteers on duty. On event days the ordinary viewing arrangements may not apply.
The address is 658 Himi-hei (Kamimachi), Saijō City. Iyo-Himi Station on the JR Yosan Line is about 10 minutes away on foot, and the Setouchi Bus stop named Himi is also about 10 minutes away. By car it is roughly 11 minutes from the Iyo-Komatsu interchange of the Matsuyama Expressway along National Route 11, or about 24 minutes from the Iyo-Saijō interchange. Parking is available on site.
Opening dates and events are announced on the foundation's website, which is worth checking before setting out.
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- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Mori Family Residence Main House
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Q&A
- When was the Mori Family Residence Main House built and when was it registered?
- It was built in 1841 by Mori Naotsugu Koreyoshi, the eighth head of the family. It became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings) on 7 August 2023.
- Can the Mori Family Residence Main House be visited, and when is it open?
- It opens on the second Saturday of each month, and the first Saturday in August and October, from 10 a.m. to noon. It is closed on all other days.
- How do I reach the Mori Family Residence Main House?
- Walk about 10 minutes from Iyo-Himi Station on the JR Yosan Line, or about 10 minutes from the Setouchi Bus stop called Himi. By car it is around 11 minutes from the Iyo-Komatsu interchange, and there is parking.
- Why does the Mori Family Residence Main House have two roofs?
- Two gabled two-storey blocks were built side by side and joined with a valley gutter. The front block took the reception rooms, the rear block the altar room, kitchen and other domestic spaces.
- What was the raised room in the Mori Family Residence Main House for?
- It is a jōdan-no-ma, a parlor with a floor set one step higher, built into a projecting wing to receive the lord of the Saijō domain. A family document of 1864 describes how the rooms were used during such a visit.
Basic Information
| Name | Mori Family Residence Main House (森家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 658-2 Himi-aza Kamimachi Hei, Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings), register no. 38-0173 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 7 August 2023 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, two storeys, tiled roof, floor area 400 square metres |
| Owner | Himi Old House Research Association (general incorporated foundation) |
| Public Access | Open the 2nd Saturday of each month, 10 a.m. to noon |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Morike Jutaku Omoya
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014688
- Ehime Prefectural Board of Education, Cultural Properties Division: report on nine buildings recommended for registration
- https://www.pref.ehime.jp/page/3948.html
- Saijo City Board of Education: notice of the registration of the Mori Family Residence and four related structures
- https://www.city.saijo.ehime.jp/soshiki/syakaikyoiku/morikebunkazaitouroku.html
- Himi Old House Research Association: About Sumiyoshiya
- https://iyo-himikominka.or.jp/sumiyoshiya/
- Himi Old House Research Association: Access
- https://iyo-himikominka.or.jp/accsess/
Last verified: 2026.09.05