Umeda Family Residence Annex

A Gateway Wing on the Back Street

The Umeda Family Residence Annex (梅田家住宅離れ) is a gate-and-storehouse annex of 1868 in Unuma Nishimachi, Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, on the old Nakasendo highway, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on November 29, 2006 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Kakamigahara City gives a later date of 1892, so the sources differ.

The Agency records a timber building of 2 storeys with a single-storey part, a tile roof and a building area of 107 square metres; registration number 21-0107.

Storehouse, Gate and Rooms in a Row

The Umeda Family Residence Annex faces the road along the back of the Umeda lot (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is a gable-roofed 2-storey block, 6 and a half ken by 3 ken. The western 2 ken form a 2-storey storehouse, the centre of the ground floor is a gateway, and on the east a single-storey reception room with a hip-and-gable roof projects outward, wrapped in a railing.

Upstairs there are living rooms even above the gateway, including 2 rooms of 8 mats; the Agency calls the plan unusual. Kakamigahara City notes that from outside it reads as one building but is in fact a storehouse, a Nagayamon gate and a reception room in a row. The storehouse walls are faced with Namako-kabe tiles up to waist height, and the projecting room at the southeast has the air of Sukiya-zukuri design.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered the Umeda Family Residence Annex for its contribution to the historic landscape, citing its unusual plan and distinctive exterior. The Umeda Family Residence Annex was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006. Kakamigahara City named it a Landscape Important Building on May 30, 2007.

When the Umeda Family Residence Annex Was Built

Sources disagree on the date of the Umeda Family Residence Annex. The Agency's registration data give 1868, while Kakamigahara City's description of its Landscape Important Buildings gives 1892. The basic information on this page follows the Agency.

What to Look For

The Umeda Family Residence Annex divides into three parts behind one front: the storehouse with its tiled lower walls to the west, the gateway in the middle, and the hip-roofed reception room jutting out to the southeast behind its railing. Even the space above the gate was used for living rooms.

Visiting

The Umeda Family Residence Annex is part of a private home and is not open inside (Kakamigahara City). It stands on the road along the south side of the lot, on the opposite side from the main house and the old Nakasendo.