A Taishō Guest Wing Behind the Farmhouse
Heishi Family Residence Annex (瓶子家住宅離れ, Heishi-ke Jūtaku Hanare) is a two-storey timber annex at Moriai in Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, built in the early Taishō period between 1912 and 1918 and entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 November 2016. It stands directly behind the early Meiji main house of the Heishi family and is linked to it by a covered corridor. The building area is 71 square metres.
The roof is a Yosemune-zukuri hipped form clad in sheet metal. The plan could hardly be simpler. Each floor holds two six-mat rooms side by side, with a staircase at both the east and west ends and corridors running along the north and south sides, so the two rooms sit wrapped in circulation.
Of the six registered buildings at the Heishi Family Residence, only the annex and the document storehouse date from the Taishō era, and the storehouse stands right next door to the west. Between them they define the back half of the compound.
Why It Was Registered
Heishi Family Residence Annex was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out its upper reception room, fitted with a Tokonoma alcove, display shelves and a Tsukeshoin built-in writing desk, and finished in choice timbers including palm wood and keyaki zelkova.
The contrast with the main house is the point. The main house was a working building, almost without ceilings and still marked by its silkworm racks. The annex wraps two tidy rooms in corridors and stairs and dresses the upper room with a formal Zashiki display. It reads as a wing built for receiving guests, set apart from the business of the farm.
The timbers say something too. Zelkova is the classic prestige hardwood of Japanese carpentry. Palm, imported from the south, was an unusual choice, and its presence suggests that within a generation of building the main house the family could afford to seek out rare materials for a single room.
What to Look For
Everything of note gathers in the upper room. Alcove, shelves and writing desk together make up the full formal arrangement of a Japanese reception room. The tsukeshoin projects beside the alcove with its own small window, originally a place to read, and the light it admits falls across the alcove.
The two staircases are worth noticing. Putting two flights into a building of 71 square metres is a deliberate choice, most likely to separate routes. With corridors on both long sides, each room in Heishi Family Residence Annex could be reached from more than one direction, letting guests and household move without crossing paths.
The covered corridor tells you this was never a free-standing guest house. It worked as an extension of the main house, and its modest hipped roof tucks in behind the big hip-and-gable roof in front, as an annex should.
Visiting
Heishi Family Residence Annex is part of a private home and is not open to the public. Neither the Agency nor Fukushima City lists any open days (checked 1 October 2026), so the reception room cannot be seen.
The annex stands behind the main house, deep in the plot, and is almost invisible from outside the grounds. No notice prohibiting exterior photography could be found, but this is the private heart of the house; please do not try to photograph into it.
Directions and general visiting conditions are on the Heishi Family Residence page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Fukushima
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Heishi Family Residence Annex
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Q&A
- Can I see inside the Heishi Family Residence Annex?
- No. It is part of a private residence and the interior is closed. No open days are listed by the Agency for Cultural Affairs or Fukushima City (checked 1 October 2026).
- When was the Heishi Family Residence Annex built?
- In the early Taishō period, between 1912 and 1918, roughly a generation after the main house.
- What is special about the upper room of the Heishi Family Residence Annex?
- It is a formal reception room with an alcove, shelves and a built-in writing desk, finished in fine timbers including palm wood and zelkova. The Agency for Cultural Affairs highlights it as the building's key feature.
- How is the Heishi Family Residence Annex connected to the main house?
- It stands directly behind the main house and is joined to it by a covered corridor, so the two were used as one dwelling.
- Can the Heishi Family Residence Annex be seen from the street?
- Hardly at all. It sits behind the main house deep inside the compound, out of view from outside the grounds.
Basic Information
| Name | Heishi Family Residence Annex (瓶子家住宅離れ / Heishi-ke Jūtaku Hanare) |
|---|---|
| Location | 35-1 Aza-Dai, Moriai, Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 07-0170 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2016/11/29 (Heisei 28), 85th round |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, 2 storeys, sheet-metal roof, building area 71 square metres |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Not open to the public |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Heishi Family Residence Annex
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00011248
- Cultural Heritage Online: Heishi Family Residence Annex
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/288003
- Fukushima City: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Structures), 66 Entries
- https://www.city.fukushima.fukushima.jp/soshiki/7/1032/2/1/3/725.html
Last verified: 2026.10.01
