What the Mori Family Residence Detached Wing Is
The Mori Family Residence Detached Wing (森家住宅離れ, Morike Jūtaku Hanare) is a single-storey building of the early Taishō era, put up between 1912 and 1918 in the Himi district of Saijō City, Ehime Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings) on 7 August 2023. It stands on the compound of the Mori family, landowners who traded as Sumiyoshiya, and was built as an inkyoya: quarters for the head of the household after he had handed the business to his heir.
Of the five Mori structures on the national register, this is the youngest by a wide margin. The main house dates from 1841, the bathhouse from around the same year, the lord's gate from about 1864, and the garden parlor from the closing decades of the Edo period. Only this one belongs to the twentieth century, and it shows that the compound kept growing rather than freezing in place.
Grand Outside, Plain Inside
The Mori Family Residence Detached Wing sits behind the two blocks of the main house and connects to them. It is a timber single-storey structure with a tiled roof and a floor area of 69 square metres, roofed in the hipped-and-gabled Irimoya-zukuri manner with Sangawara-buki pantiles, and walled in the Shinkabe method that leaves the posts exposed.
The outside is dominated by that roof. A steep hipped-and-gabled roof over a single storey makes the building read as considerably larger than its footprint. Step inside and the impression reverses, because the parlor has no Nageshi.
Nageshi are the horizontal timbers that run across the posts to mark a room as formal, and in the shoin tradition they are not omitted. Leaving them out was a decision to build something that does not announce its own rank. For a retirement house, that reasoning holds. Registration came under the criterion for buildings that contribute to the historic landscape of Japan, in recognition of the role this building plays within the surviving compound.
What to Look For
The interior follows a four-square plan, with two intersecting walls dividing the floor into four rooms. The principal one is an eight-mat parlor with an alcove, the room where the retired head would have received visitors.
Beside it is a four-and-a-half-mat Chashitsu. Part of the wall is deliberately left unplastered so that the bamboo lath shows through, a Shitaji-mado window belonging to the Sukiya-zukuri tradition. The restraint of the parlor and the studied roughness of the tea room come from the same instinct.
An open veranda wraps the building, sheltered by a tiled canopy, so a visitor can walk the perimeter and keep the garden in view the whole way. Unlike the main house or the garden parlor, the Mori Family Residence Detached Wing opens on all four sides.
When you are inside, look up at the lintel line in the eight-mat room where the nageshi would ordinarily run. Compared with the raised parlor in the main house, it shows how far one household was willing to vary the formality of its rooms.
Visiting
The Mori Family Residence Detached Wing is maintained by the Himi Old House Research Association, which opens the compound to the public under the Sumiyoshiya name. The interior can be seen on the second Saturday of each month, and on the first Saturday in August and October, from 10 a.m. to noon. The site is closed on other days, and group visits or other dates must be arranged with the foundation in advance.
No admission charge and no photography policy appear on the foundation's website, and neither could be confirmed while this article was prepared, so ask the volunteers on duty. On days when a tea gathering or a concert is held on the grounds, the usual arrangements may differ.
The address is 658 Himi-hei (Kamimachi), Saijō City. Iyo-Himi Station on the JR Yosan Line is about 10 minutes away on foot, as is the Setouchi Bus stop named Himi. Drivers should allow about 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.
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Q&A
- When was the Mori Family Residence Detached Wing built?
- Between 1912 and 1918, in the early Taishō era. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings) on 7 August 2023.
- What was the Mori Family Residence Detached Wing used for?
- It was a retirement house for the head of the family after he passed on the household. It holds an eight-mat parlor with an alcove and a four-and-a-half-mat tea room, and covers 69 square metres.
- Why is the interior of the Mori Family Residence Detached Wing so plain?
- The parlor was built without nageshi, the horizontal timbers that normally signal a formal room. Omitting them suited a house meant for retirement rather than display.
- How does the Mori Family Residence Detached Wing differ from the other four Mori structures?
- It is the newest of the five, built in the Taishō era. The main house dates from 1841 and the lord's gate from about 1864, both Edo-period work.
- Can the Mori Family Residence Detached Wing be visited?
- Yes, 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.
Basic Information
| Name | Mori Family Residence Detached Wing (森家住宅離れ) |
|---|---|
| Location | 658-2 Himi-aza Kamimachi Hei, Saijo City, Ehime Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings), register no. 38-0175 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 7 August 2023 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single storey, tiled roof, floor area 69 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 Hanare
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014690
- 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