Former Hashimoto Family Residence
Step through the wide entrance door of the Former Hashimoto Family Residence and most of what you see is not a floor at all but packed earth. The niwa, the earthen-floored work space with its sunken hearth, takes up roughly two-thirds of the building, a proportion that tells you this was a working farmhouse rather than a place built for show. Overhead, the beams are notably thick and heavily timbered, the kind of framing a house needs when winter dumps metres of snow on the roof. This is a farmhouse of eastern Fukui, in the Ono district, and the heavy snow country it was built for shapes everything about it.
The house dates from the early eighteenth century, the middle of the Edo period. It measures about 11 metres across the front and 8 metres deep, under a thatched irimoya roof, the hipped-and-gabled form, with a stable attached on the south side beneath a roof of cedar bark. Specialists classify it as an "Echizen Type II" farmhouse, one of the standard regional plans of old Fukui. It was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1969.
Why It Was Designated, and How It Survived
The residence is valued as a representative farmhouse of eastern Fukui that keeps its archaic features intact. Its plain, unadorned exterior and its thick beam framing are typical of the older mountain-village houses of the region, and it is one of the better records we have of how people once lived with a wide earthen floor and the doza arrangement, in which living areas were laid with straw matting set directly over the ground rather than raised on a wooden floor. For a house this old, that everyday detail is rare to find preserved.
The Hashimoto family were people of standing in the village of Hokyo-ji, serving across generations as shoya, the village headman, and later as district head. As the village lost population in the twentieth century, the family gave the house to the city of Ono. In 1973 it was carefully taken apart, moved to its present site near Hokyo-ji temple, and rebuilt in its original early-Edo form. The relocation is the reason the building carries the word "former" in its name.
What to Look For on a Visit
Inside, the plan is simple and legible. From the large doorway you enter a threshold space, with the stable to the right, dug down a little below the level of the room and walled in stone. The central niwa holds the hearth; a water area with a cut-stone sink sits at the back. To the left are two board-floored rooms, an upper and a lower zashiki of about eight mats each, the formal living quarters. The structural posts repay a look: the interior pillars are zelkova, prized for strength, while most of the outer pillars are chestnut.
The house sits beside Hokyo-ji, a Soto Zen temple founded in 1278 by the monk Jakuen, who came to Japan from Southern Song China; it is regarded as the second-oldest Soto training monastery after Eihei-ji, so the setting carries its own history. The residence is open free of charge on Wednesdays, Sundays, and public holidays from late April to early November, generally from 9:00 to 16:00. On open days the hearth is lit, which gives the dim interior the smell and warmth it would have had in daily use. The house is closed through the snowbound winter, and viewing on other days can be arranged in advance with the city. By car it is roughly 25 minutes from JR Echizen-Ono Station.
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Q&A
- What does "doza" mean?
- It is an older living arrangement in which rooms were floored with straw matting laid directly over the earth, rather than on a raised wooden floor. The house is valued partly because it records this way of living.
- Is the house in its original location?
- No. It was dismantled and rebuilt on its current site near Hokyo-ji temple in 1973, after the Hashimoto family donated it to the city of Ono. It was restored to its original early-Edo appearance.
- When can I visit, and is there a fee?
- Admission is free. It opens on Wednesdays, Sundays, and holidays from late April to early November, usually 9:00 to 16:00. It is closed in winter; viewing on other days can be arranged with the city in advance.
- What is special about the building's structure?
- It is an Echizen Type II farmhouse with unusually thick beam framing suited to heavy snow, a large earthen-floored niwa filling two-thirds of the plan, and an attached stable. Interior pillars are zelkova; the outer pillars are mostly chestnut.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Hashimoto Family Residence |
|---|---|
| Location | Kasamatsu 7, Hokyoji, Ono City, Fukui Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (designated 18 December 1969) |
| Count | 1 building |
| Structure | Frontage 11.1 m, depth 8.2 m; thatched irimoya roof; attached stable (cedar-bark roof) |
| Date | Mid-Edo period, early 18th century |
| Owner | Ono City |
| Access | Free admission; open Wed/Sun/holidays late April–early November, 9:00–16:00; closed in winter; about 25 min by car from JR Echizen-Ono Station |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Former Hashimoto Family Residence
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/827
- Ono City official site: Important Cultural Property, Former Hashimoto Family Residence
- https://www.city.ono.fukui.jp/kosodate/bunka-rekishi/shokai/hashimotoke.html
- Fukui Prefecture official tourism site: Former Hashimoto Family Residence
- https://www.fuku-e.com/spot/detail_1133.html
Last verified: 2026.06.22