Umeda Family Residence Main House

The Main House of Myogaya

The Umeda Family Residence Main House (梅田家住宅主屋) is a townhouse of the late Edo period (between 1751 and 1829) 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 was the home 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 166 square metres; registration number 21-0082.

A Street Front Facing the Highway

The Umeda Family Residence Main House faces north onto the old Nakasendo. It is a gable-roofed townhouse entered from the long side (Hirairi), 6 ken across and 5 ken deep. On the ground floor a projecting lattice (Degōshi) covers roughly the eastern half of the front; upstairs, wing walls (Udatsu) rise at both ends, and the vertically latticed windows between them are set out symmetrically. Posts and Nageshi tie beams are left visible on the face (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Kakamigahara City adds that a wide door (ōdo) opens at the west end of the front and that the walls are finished in black plaster. The eaves line up with those of the neighbours, so the house reads as part of a continuous street front.

Sources differ on the number of floors. The Agency's registration data give the structure as single-storey timber, yet its own description mentions the wing walls and windows of the 2nd floor, and the city describes the house as a 2-storey timber building.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency regards the Umeda Family Residence Main House as the only townhouse in the former Unuma post town that goes back to the Edo period, and registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Umeda Family Residence Main House was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006.

According to Kakamigahara City, when the Nobi earthquake struck in 1891 the Umeda house was the only one in the area that did not collapse. The city named it a Landscape Important Building in 2008, as a building that still shows what a post-town hatago looked like.

What to Look For

Standing in front of the Umeda Family Residence Main House, look first at the two ends of the upper floor, where the wing walls frame the row of lattice windows like the sides of a picture.

Below, the projecting lattice to the east and the wide door to the west give the two halves of the front a different character. The contrast between black plaster and exposed timber is clearest from across the road.

Visiting

The Umeda Family Residence Main House is a private home, and Kakamigahara City states that its interior is not open to the public; it can be seen only from the old Nakasendo. The annex joined to its east end belongs to the same house, and the two can be viewed together from the road.