Kurakazu Family Residence Main House

What Is the Kurakazu Family Residence Main House?

The Kurakazu Family Residence Main House (倉員家住宅主屋, Kurakazu-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a landowner's house built in 1885 in Kitakawauchi, Joyo-machi, Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2018.

The Kurakazu Family Residence Main House stands in the middle of the compound, facing south. It is a wooden building, mostly two storeys with a single-storey section, covering 300 m². That is larger than the other three registered buildings of the residence put together. It was remodeled around 1967.

Why the Kurakazu Family Residence Main House Was Registered

The Kurakazu Family Residence Main House was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 2, 2018, for its contribution to the historic landscape, under registration number 40-0155.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs presents the Kurakazu Main House as the residence of a landowning family at the center of the old Kitakawauchi village, and as a well-made Japanese house that uses fine timber generously. Its value lies in a mid-Meiji home of a leading local family that, through later remodeling, has remained the heart of the homestead.

What to Look for at the Kurakazu Family Residence Main House

Start with the roof. The Kurakazu Family Residence Main House has an Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable roof laid in Sangawara-buki pantiles. The eastern half of the two-storey front is pushed forward, and the roof turns a right angle to cover it, a form known as Kaneore. Seen from the front, only the east side steps toward you, and the roofline bends into an L.

A Geya, a lean-to roof over the ground-floor eaves, runs around all four sides. With the main roof above it, the house shows two tiers of tiled eaves stacked one over the other.

Inside, according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the west end is a Doma, an earth-floored work and entry space. To the east, six rooms are set in two rows of three, with the formal Zashiki rooms lined up along the front. Dividing the floor this way, from the earthen entry to a block of raised rooms split into front and back, is a common plan in large rural houses of the period. The interior is not open, so the layout is known only from the official description.

Visiting the Kurakazu Family Residence Main House

The Kurakazu Family Residence Main House is a private home and its interior is not open to the public. It stands in the middle of the lot, with the storehouse and barn to the south, and how much of it can be seen from the road has not been confirmed. Please view it only from outside the property. Directions are on the page for the Kurakazu Family Residence.