Nishino Family Residence Annex

A Reception Wing of 1937

The Nishino Family Residence Annex (西野家住宅離れ, Nishino-ke Jūtaku Hanare) is a single-storey reception wing built in 1937 in Sadatomo-cho, Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 June 2017. It is a timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 87 square metres, registered as number 18-0178.

Attached to the back of the main house, the annex held the rooms where the family received guests. The Fukui Heritage Council records its roof as hip-and-gable. It belongs to the early Showa years, when the Nishino papermaking business was at its height.

Why the Annex Was Registered

Only two of the six Nishino buildings were registered as models of design, the main house and the Nishino Family Residence Annex. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out the alcove, built of fine decorative timbers, and the carved Ranma transoms, which it describes as the work of highly skilled craftsmen.

The annex is not large. Its value lies in the choice of materials and the care taken over details, a well-finished Japanese-style reception room of the pre-war Showa period.

Opening onto the Garden

The Nishino annex consists of two tatami reception rooms side by side. Along the south side, facing the garden, runs a boarded veranda with an earth-floored strip beyond it, closed off by glazed doors. With the doors shut the veranda is part of the house; opened, the rooms run straight out to the garden.

Inside, look at the grain of the timbers around the Tokonoma and at the carving of the transoms.

The toilet on the east side is easy to miss, yet it is finished with the same care, decorated with bamboo and plum motifs. Carrying the design into such a room shows the standard the family set for its guests.

Seeing the Annex

The Nishino Family Residence Annex lies deep inside the compound and cannot be seen from the street. Its rooms can only be visited when they are opened for a special event.

On such occasions, view the south side from the garden to see how the rooms open onto it. Please do not touch the carved transoms or the alcove timbers.