What Is the Yoshimura Family Residence Well House?
The Yoshimura Family Residence Well House (吉村家住宅井戸屋形, Yoshimura-ke Jūtaku Idoyakata) is a small roofed shelter over a well, built around 1925 at the Yoshimura family's home in Tani 2-chome, Chuo Ward, Fukuoka, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 4 February 2021. It stands on its own just south of the toilet and bath building and is the smallest of the four registered structures.
It covers only 4.7 square meters (4.73 in Fukuoka City's survey), a single-storey wooden frame under a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. The Agency for Cultural Affairs classes it not as a building but as an "other structure."
Four Leaning Log Posts
The Yoshimura Family Residence Well House has no walls at all: just four posts lifting a gabled roof. The posts are not vertical but set with an inward lean, the technique called Uchikorobi, so the frame is wider at the ground than at the top. Seen from the side, the outline forms a clear trapezoid, a simple way to steady a small roof.
Every structural member is an unsawn cedar log rather than squared timber. That gives the shelter a rustic, softer character quite different from the careful carpentry of the main house. The agency's database includes a photograph of the roof framing taken from the southwest.
The Well and the Household's Water Rooms
Under the roof is a round concrete well. With the toilet and bath building just to the north and the kitchen wing of the main house beyond it, the household's water work was gathered along the south side of the plot, and the well house sits at the southern end of that line.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs credits the Yoshimura Family Residence Well House, together with the main house and the garden trees, with creating a fine landscape in the former samurai quarter below Fukuoka Castle. It was registered for contributing to the historic landscape.
Visiting the Yoshimura Family Residence Well House
The Yoshimura Family Residence Well House stands deep within a private home and is not open to the public (checked October 2026). The grounds cannot be entered and there is no official guidance on photography. The log posts and their inward lean can be seen in the exterior and roof-framing photographs in the agency's database.
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Q&A
- What is the Yoshimura Family Residence Well House?
- A roofed shelter over a well, built around 1925. Four posts carry a gabled tiled roof, and there are no walls.
- Why do the posts of the Yoshimura Family Residence Well House lean inward?
- They are set in the uchikorobi manner, tilted inward toward the top, which widens the base and steadies the small roof.
- What materials were used for the Yoshimura Family Residence Well House?
- All the structural members are cedar logs. The well itself is a round concrete well.
- When was the Yoshimura Family Residence Well House registered?
- On 4 February 2021, as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property under number 40-0180.
- Can I visit the Yoshimura Family Residence Well House?
- No. It is on private residential grounds, and no visits were announced as of October 2026.
Basic Information
| Name | Yoshimura Family Residence Well House (吉村家住宅井戸屋形) |
|---|---|
| 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 4.7㎡ (wooden, single-storey) |
| 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 Well House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013664
- Cultural Heritage Online: Yoshimura Family Residence Well House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/588350
- 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
