Yabuki Family Residence

About the Yabuki Family Residence

The Yabuki Family Residence (矢吹家住宅, Yabuki-ke Jūtaku) is the estate of the Yabuki family in Kamiyachi, Narukawa, Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, where a thatched main house of 1912 and ten other buildings, gates and walls dating between the mid-Meiji era and the early Showa era were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2015.

Narukawa lies on the southwest side of central Fukushima City. On the Yabuki Family Residence grounds stand eight buildings: the main house, a reception wing called the new zashiki, five storehouses and an outdoor toilet. Around them run a front gate, a garden gate, a south gate and inner and outer walls. The eleven registrations add up to one complete rural household, with living quarters, stores and enclosure all still in place.

In its notes on the new storehouse and the front gate, the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Yabuki as an old established family. How long they have lived here, and what their livelihood was, cannot be confirmed from published sources.

The Eleven Registered Properties

All eleven parts of the Yabuki Family Residence became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 26 March 2015, under consecutive numbers 07-0150 to 07-0160. Each was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape of the country. The national database gives the following dates and sizes.

• Main House: 1912. Two-storey timber, thatch (temporarily sheeted in metal), building area 357 m²
• New Zashiki: early Showa. Single-storey timber, tile and sheet-metal roofing, building area 54 m²
• Bunko Storehouse: 1914. Two-storey clay-walled storehouse, tiled, building area 53 m²
• Zashiki Storehouse and Buddhist Altar Room: storehouse mid-Meiji, altar room early Showa. Clay-walled, two storeys with a single-storey part, tile and sheet-metal roofing, building area 97 m²
• New Storehouse: 1928. Two-storey clay-walled storehouse, tiled, building area 94 m²
• Miso Storehouse: early Showa. Clay-walled, two storeys with a single-storey part, tiled, building area 94 m², with a gate
• Tool Storehouse and Woodshed: early Showa. Single-storey clay-walled, tiled, building area 42 m²
• Outdoor Toilet: early Showa. Listed as a single-storey clay-walled structure (the description says timber), tiled, building area 19 m²
• Front Gate: 1918. Timber, tiled, 3.3 m wide, with wing walls on both sides
• Garden Gate and Inner Wall: early Showa. Gate in timber with sheet-metal roof, 1.6 m wide; wall in timber with sheet-metal coping, 28 m in total
• South Gate and Outer Wall: early Showa. Gate in timber, tiled, 2.7 m wide; wall in timber with tile and sheet-metal coping, 40 m in total

The oldest part is the zashiki storehouse of the mid-Meiji era. The main house followed in 1912, the bunko storehouse in 1914, the front gate in 1918 and the new storehouse in 1928. The rest, including the altar room added to the zashiki storehouse, belongs to the early Showa era (1926 to 1945). Once the big thatched house was up, the family kept adding stores, rooms and gates around it for another two decades or so.

How the Yabuki Family Residence Is Laid Out

The main house of the Yabuki Family Residence stands in the middle of the plot, facing south. The new zashiki is joined to its back, the bunko storehouse stands to its west and the zashiki storehouse with its altar room to the northwest. Rooms for guests and stores for valuables are grouped on the west and north sides of the house.

The east side of the plot faces the street. Along it, south to north, come the keyaki-wood front gate, the miso storehouse and the tool storehouse with its woodshed, with a small gate between the last two. This run of storehouses with tiled namako walls is the public face of the estate. The outdoor toilet stands just inside, between the earth-floored end of the main house and the miso storehouse.

The new storehouse anchors the southeast corner. From its southwest corner the outer wall runs west along the southern edge of the plot, pierced near the storehouse by the south gate. From its northwest corner the inner wall turns toward the house, separating the front garden from the main garden. Behind the house a garden gate and wall divide an inner court from the rear garden, and the new zashiki is built to open fully onto that rear garden.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs contrasts the weighty east front with the lighter gate and wall on the south side. The two street-facing edges show different characters, while inside the plot walls and gates break the grounds into a series of gardens. Each building is described on its own page.

Visiting the Yabuki Family Residence

The Yabuki Family Residence is a family property, and no public or special openings could be found as of October 2026. Visitors cannot enter the grounds; the buildings can only be seen from the road. Fukushima City asks anyone wishing to see privately owned cultural properties to obtain the owner's permission first.

The easiest side to see is the street front on the east, where the front gate, the miso storehouse and the tool storehouse stand in a row. The new storehouse in the southeast corner and the south gate and outer wall also face outward. Please photograph only from the public road and avoid lingering at the gates.

Fukushima Kotsu buses run from the East Exit of Fukushima Station to the Nishiyachi stop. According to the operator's timetable search, the ride between Nishiyachi and Fukushima Station East Exit takes 19 minutes over 5.5 km (as of October 2026). Services are infrequent, so check the latest timetable before setting out. Map services put the Yabuki Family Residence about five minutes' walk from the stop. No visitor parking is advertised.