About the Kawai Family Villa Main House
The Kawai Family Villa Main House (河合家別邸主屋, Kawai-ke Bettei Shuoku) is a Sukiya-zukuri residence built around 1941 in Ichinomachi, Furukawa-cho, Hida City, Gifu Prefecture, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 13, 2012. It occupies the north side of the Kawai Family Villa lot and wraps around the storehouse registered on the same day.
The Kawai villa main house is a single-storey timber building with a partial second floor, roofed in metal sheet, with a footprint of 173 square meters. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to around 1941.
Why the Main House Was Registered
The Kawai Family Villa Main House was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency describes it as a refined sukiya-zukuri house planned with the view of the front garden in mind.
Sukiya-zukuri borrows the vocabulary of the tea room for domestic architecture: light construction, slender members and materials left to show their character. In the Kawai villa that approach shows above all in how the house addresses its garden. The orientation of the rooms and the placing of verandas and windows are worked out around the view south across the front garden.
What to Notice
An H-shaped plan around a storehouse
The Kawai Family Villa Main House is laid out as an H that encloses the storehouse. The storehouse, at the center of the north side, is dated to the middle Meiji period, between 1883 and 1897. Since the house came about half a century later, it reads as a plan that took the existing storehouse as its core and built the living quarters around it. The storehouse door opens south onto a corridor of the house, so the family could reach it without going outdoors.
Two storeys and one
The roofs vary as much as the plan. The northeast and southwest parts of the H rise to 2 storeys under Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roofs; the rest is single-storey under Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable roofs, and the entrance on the southeast has a hip-and-gable roof of its own.
The southwest rooms and the garden
In the southwest part, Geya lean-tos extend from the south and east faces to carry a veranda, with windows opening onto it. With the veranda running along two sides, the rooms look out over the front garden in two directions. This corner is where the house most fully shows its sukiya character.
Seeing the Kawai Family Villa Main House
The Kawai Family Villa Main House is privately owned and not open to the public. Neither the interior nor the front garden inside the gate can be entered.
The house stands well back on the north side of the lot, so from the street expect to see no more than part of the roof above the gate and board fence. Take photographs from the public road and do not block the gateway.
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Q&A
- When was the Kawai Family Villa Main House built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to around 1941.
- Why is the Kawai Family Villa Main House a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- As a refined sukiya-zukuri house planned around the view of its front garden, it was judged to contribute to the historic landscape. It was registered on August 13, 2012.
- How large is the Kawai Family Villa Main House?
- It is a single-storey timber building with 2-storey parts at the northeast and southwest, roofed in metal sheet, with a footprint of 173 square meters.
- What is the plan of the Kawai Family Villa Main House?
- It is H-shaped and encloses the storehouse at the center of the north side. The storehouse door opens onto a corridor of the house.
- Can I go inside the Kawai Family Villa Main House?
- No. It is privately owned and not open to the public. It can only be glimpsed from the street over the gate and fence.
Basic Information
| Name | Kawai Family Villa Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 5-16 Ichinomachi, Furukawa-cho, Hida City, Gifu Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered August 13, 2012 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single storey with 2-storey parts, metal sheet roof; footprint 173 square meters |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (viewed from the public road over the gate and fence) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Kawai Family Villa Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00009280
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kawai Family Villa Main House (Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/272993
- Hida City Board of Education: List of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (PDF, Japanese)
- https://hida-bunka.jp/wphidabunka/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/list04-20200313.pdf
Last verified: 2026.10.03
