What Is the Yoshimura Family Residence Main House?
The Yoshimura Family Residence Main House (吉村家住宅主屋, Yoshimura-ke Jūtaku Omoya) is a wooden house built in 1925 in Tani 2-chome, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 4 February 2021. It stands in the former samurai quarter south of Fukuoka Castle, and Fukuoka City records that it was built as the retirement house of Isotaro (1869 to 1936), the seventh head of the Yoshimura family.
The house is single-storey with a partial second floor and a tiled roof, covering 131 square meters (130.75 in the city's survey). It combines a single-storey reception wing with a kitchen wing that rises to two floors. The city's records also note an extension around 1953 and further alterations around 1955.
A Roof That Reads as Two
What you notice first about the Yoshimura Family Residence Main House is the layering of its roof. The main roof is a hip-and-gable Irimoya-zukuri form covered in Sangawara-buki pantiles, and a continuous Hisashi eave wraps all four sides beneath it. The upper roof and the lower eave read as two tiers, which the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes as a deliberate double-roof effect.
A hip-and-gable entrance porch projects from the front, and rooms push out to the east and west, each with its own roof. The ridges and valleys meet at awkward, interesting angles, and the result is a one-storey house with a surprising sense of weight.
Rooms for Guests, Rooms for Family
Inside the entrance is a small anteroom, the toritsugi, and beyond it the principal room, a 10-mat Zashiki. A 4.5-mat room projects to the east. To the west, a 7.5-mat room and the kitchen step back diagonally one after another, a staggered "flying geese" arrangement rather than a straight line of rooms.
Fukuoka City's survey divides the plan in two. The northeast side, from the entrance through the 10-mat and 4.5-mat rooms, was for receiving guests and opens generously onto the garden. The southwest side, running through 6-mat and 7.5-mat rooms to the kitchen wing, was for the family. The formal room is finished in the Shoin-zukuri manner with good timber, its walls dark jurakudo clay above and white Shikkui plaster below.
That clear separation between guest space and family space, carried through in the quality of the finishes, is a habit inherited from samurai houses of the late Edo period.
Why the Main House Was Registered
The Yoshimura Family Residence Main House was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs points to the complex junctions of its roof as preserving the character of a samurai residence. Although it dates from the end of the Taisho era, it keeps the samurai sequence of entrance, anteroom and reception room, and that makes it a useful witness to how this former samurai district looked.
Visiting the Yoshimura Family Residence Main House
The Yoshimura Family Residence Main House is a private home that is still lived in, and its interior is not open to the public (checked October 2026). The grounds cannot be entered and there is no official guidance on photography. It has not been confirmed how much of the layered roof can be seen from the street, so if you visit, look quietly from outside and respect the residents' privacy.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Fukuoka
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Yoshimura Family Residence Main House
- [ Dazaifu Tenmangu Shrine & Hakata Food Tours ]
Q&A
- When and for whom was the Yoshimura Family Residence Main House built?
- It was built in 1925. According to Fukuoka City, it was the retirement house of Isotaro, the seventh head of the Yoshimura family.
- Is the Yoshimura Family Residence Main House a national cultural property?
- Yes. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 4 February 2021 under number 40-0177, for contributing to the historic landscape.
- Why does the roof of the Yoshimura Family Residence Main House look double?
- A continuous eave runs around all four sides below the hip-and-gable main roof, so the two read as separate tiers.
- What is the formal room of the Yoshimura Family Residence Main House like?
- It is a 10-mat shoin-style reception room, reached through the entrance and an anteroom, with dark clay walls above and white plaster below.
- Can I go inside the Yoshimura Family Residence Main House?
- No. It is a private residence, and no public openings were announced as of October 2026.
Basic Information
| Name | Yoshimura Family Residence Main House (吉村家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 280 Tani 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | 2021 (registered) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 131㎡ (wooden, single-storey with partial 2nd floor) |
| Owner | Private (the Yoshimura family) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (private residence) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Yoshimura Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013661
- Cultural Heritage Online: Yoshimura Family Residence Main House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/516697
- Fukuoka City press release on the Yoshimura Family Residence (PDF, Japanese)
- https://bunkazai.city.fukuoka.lg.jp/files/NewsBlocks/35bcfb5f-668e-48e1-ba31-a45852e4a23b/value01/NewsParagraph733fileja.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.30
