A concrete house in a provincial town
Former Kumakura Family Residence Main House stands in Yanagawamachi, Date City, Fukushima Prefecture, built in the early Showa years between 1926 and 1945 and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 5 December 2019. It is reinforced concrete, two storeys with part rising to three, covering 120 square metres.
It stands in the centre of Yanagawamachi, with a viewing room on the top floor. A private house in a provincial town built in reinforced concrete was unusual at the time.
Its registration number is 07-0225. Together with the storehouse behind it, this was the first building in Date City to be registered nationally.
Why it was listed
Former Kumakura Family Residence Main House was listed as something not easily reproduced, one of the three available criteria. The storehouse on the same plot was listed on another, for contributing to the historic landscape.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as showing one aspect of how Western design spread into the provinces. Not Tokyo or Osaka, but a town in northern Fukushima, and how reinforced concrete and Western detail were received there.
The not-easily-reproduced criterion is used where materials or methods are now hard to obtain. Reinforced concrete houses of the early Showa years in provincial towns were never numerous to begin with.
Western only at the porch and the veranda
The outside is finished in rough German render, mortar sprayed on to leave a coarse texture, quicker than a smooth finish and correspondingly blunt. Ornament is kept down.
Western detail appears only at the entrance and the veranda. Everything else stays plain. Inside is the same: Japanese rooms throughout, with Western rooms only around the entrance. In both cases the Western manner is confined to where people are received.
That line is the thing to look at. Neither wholly Western nor consistently Japanese, the house puts the new manner exactly where it will be seen. How the provinces took up Western design is legible in the arrangement.
Visiting
Former Kumakura Family Residence Main House belongs to Date City. The 2019 report of the Council for Cultural Affairs recorded that the city had taken ownership and intended to prepare the buildings for opening. What has happened since is not documented in the sources consulted here, so ask Date City about going inside.
The exterior can be seen from the streets of central Yanagawamachi: the Western detail at porch and veranda, the coarse rendered wall, and the viewing room on the top floor. Photography from the public road is unrestricted.
Directions and the wider setting are set out on the page for the Former Kumakura Family Residence.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Fukushima
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Kumakura Family Residence Main House
- [ Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle & Ouchi-juku Village Tours ]
Q&A
- How is Former Kumakura Family Residence Main House built?
- In reinforced concrete, two storeys with part rising to three, covering 120 square metres, with a viewing room at the top.
- Where is the Western detail?
- At the entrance and the veranda only. The rest of the exterior is plain, and inside the rooms are Japanese apart from Western rooms around the entrance.
- Can it be visited?
- It belongs to Date City, which in 2019 intended to prepare it for opening. Ask the city about access inside.
- Under which criterion was it listed?
- As something not easily reproduced. The storehouse on the same plot was listed under a different criterion.
- What is its registration number?
- 07-0225, listed on 5 December 2019, the first nationally registered building in Date City.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kumakura Family Residence Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 48 Ushirocho, Yanagawacho, Date City, Fukushima Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2019 (Reiwa 1) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Reinforced concrete, 2 storeys with part rising to 3, building area 120 square metres |
| Owner | Date City |
| Public Access | Exterior visible from the street; ask Date City about access inside |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database: Former Kumakura Family Residence Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013032
- Former Kumakura Family Residence to be registered (Date City)
- https://www.city.fukushima-date.lg.jp/soshiki/5/35392.html
Last verified: 2026.09.17
