Akutsu Family Residence (Itozawa Honjin)
The Akutsu Family Residence (Itozawa Honjin) (阿久津家住宅（糸沢本陣）, Akutsu-ke Jūtaku) in Itozawa, Minamiaizu Town, Fukushima Prefecture, is the late Edo period homestead of an old post-town family; its main house and a rice storehouse of 1859 were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on September 2, 1998 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
The Agency describes the Akutsu as an old family on the former Nikko Kaido road who stood at the centre of local trade, and notes that the house is affectionately known as the "toiya honjin", the wholesaler's inn. Fukushima Prefecture lists both buildings as privately owned.
The Road through Itozawa
Cultural Heritage Online describes the Shimotsuke Kaido as a road of more than 130 km from the castle town of Aizu-Wakamatsu to Imaichi in Shimotsuke Province. It was also called the Nanzan-dori and the Nikko Kaido, and on the Kanto side the Aizu Nishi Kaido. As the shortest route from Aizu to Edo, it carried the rice the Aizu domain shipped to Edo and the processions of the Aizu, Shibata and Murakami domains on their journeys to the shogun's capital.
The former Nikko Kaido named for the Akutsu Family Residence is this same road. The name "toiya honjin" suggests a house that combined the honjin, the inn for travelling lords, with the toiya office that relayed goods and horses, but no official source found so far details the posts the Akutsu family held.
The Two Buildings
The main house is a single-storey building set back on the lot, 16.5 ken wide and 9 ken deep. It was once thatched and is now roofed in sheet iron (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Six storehouses once surrounded the main house of the Akutsu Family Residence. The one registered today is the rice storehouse, a two-storey clay-walled building in the northeast corner of the lot; an ink inscription on its ridge beam dates it to the time of the 20th head of the family (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Each building has its own page.
Visiting
The Akutsu Family Residence (Itozawa Honjin) is a private home, and no official information on interior viewing or visits was found. Please stay off the property and view it from outside.
The nearest station is Nanatsugatake-Tozanguchi on the Aizu Railway Aizu Line, about 850 m in a straight line from the main house (based on the coordinates in the Agency database).
References
- Akutsu Family Residence (Itozawa Honjin) Main House (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00000628
- Akutsu Family Residence (Itozawa Honjin) Rice Storehouse (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00000629
- Shimotsuke Kaido (Cultural Heritage Online, Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/140124
- List of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Structures), as of April 1, 2026 (Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese)
- https://www.pref.fukushima.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/748318.pdf
Last verified: 2026.11.02
Basic Information
| Name | Akutsu Family Residence (Itozawa Honjin) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1949 Itozawa Idaira, Minamiaizu-machi, Minamiaizu-gun, Fukushima Prefecture |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (2) |
| Coordinates | 37.13162, 139.71566 |
