What yamatomune means
Yamatomune is a farmhouse roof form found mainly in Nara Prefecture and southern Osaka. The main block is covered by a steep thatched gabled roof, and its two gable ends are finished in tile, with tall plastered gable walls holding the thatch between them. Typically a lower tiled roof, the Ochimune, is attached at the side. A Kawachinagano City release defines yamatomune as a roof form in which the gable ends of a steep thatched roof are tiled.
White gable walls rising above the thatch, edged with lines of tile, give the villages of the Nara basin their character. In some houses the thatched part covers the living rooms and the tiled lower wing the kitchen.
Many thatched roofs have since been covered with sheet metal, and judging the form from the present roofing alone can mislead.
Reading the records and the house
Records describe houses as yamatomune. The main house of the Tsuji family is recorded as a so-called thatched yamatomune farmhouse, its lower wings and eaves roofed in traditional tile, with the kitchen in the eastern wing once earth-floored. The Wada family house in Kawachinagano is described as a large yamatomune farmhouse with a thatched gabled roof, now covered with a temporary steel roof, and lower tiled wings at both ends.
Some houses combine roof forms. The main house of the Matsumiya family in Hirakata, Osaka, has a hip-and-gable roof at its east end and a yamatomune at its west end, with lean-to roofs all round.
On site, look at the gable ends. Thatch or metal roofing held between higher white walls and tile edges marks a yamatomune, and a lower tiled roof continuing beside it is the ochimune.
References
- 国登録有形文化財（和田家住宅主屋）の登録について｜河内長野市
- https://www.city.kawachinagano.lg.jp/uploaded/attachment/13945.pdf
- 辻家住宅主屋｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005299
- 松宮家住宅主屋｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013147
Last verified: 2026.09.26