Umeda Family Residence Annex

A Tea-Room Annex of about 1935

The Umeda Family Residence Annex (梅田家住宅離れ) is a tea-room annex of around 1935 in Unuma Nishimachi, Kakamigahara City, Gifu Prefecture, on the old Nakasendo highway, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 27, 2006 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It belongs to the house of the Umeda family, who ran a hatago, a lodging house for highway travellers, under the trade name Myogaya (茗荷屋, Myōgaya).

The Agency records a single-storey timber building with a tile roof and a building area of 97 square metres; registration number 21-0083.

Beside the Main House

The Umeda Family Residence Annex is a single-storey timber wing joined to the east end of the Myogaya main house. Its plan forms an L, with a tea room (Chashitsu) in the northeast corner, and the eave beams are dressed logs (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Kakamigahara City describes the tea room as four-and-a-half mats.

To the south a courtyard lies between the annex and the main house. The corridor facing it is glazed, its transoms alternate frosted and clear panes, and a round window opens at the southwest corner of the corridor (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The city describes it as a round Shitaji-mado, a window that leaves the wall's lattice of laths exposed.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency singles out the Umeda Family Residence Annex for its distinctive exterior, which shows two hip-and-gable gables to the old highway, and registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Umeda Family Residence Annex was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006.

Kakamigahara City also points to the black plastered walls and the two hip-and-gable gables, and in 2008 named the annex and its attached wall Landscape Important Buildings. The wall is a tile-capped earthen wall that runs along the road and joins the neighbour's wall.

What to Look For

From the road, the Umeda Family Residence Annex offers its two gables and black walls. East of the main house's plain gabled roof, two hip-and-gable roofs turn their triangular ends to the street, giving a single-storey wing a lively roofline.

The tea room, the transoms and the round window belong to the interior and cannot be seen from outside.

Visiting

The Umeda Family Residence Annex is part of a private home and is not open inside (Kakamigahara City). Its street front and the earthen wall can be seen from the old Nakasendo, continuing east from the main house.