A Weaver's House Joined to Its Mill
The Kobayashi Family Residence (Former Kotake Textile Co., Ltd.) Main House (小林家住宅（旧小武織物有限会社）主屋) is a timber house of around 1931 in Hirosawa-cho, Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on October 7, 2014. It was home to the Kobayashi family, who ran a small silk-weaving firm on the same lot, and it was registered together with the factory, two warehouses, the stone wall and the fence.
The house is mostly single-storey with a partial 2-storey section and covers 332 square metres. It stands on the west side of the property facing east, and its northern half is an earth-floored Doma that opens directly into the factory next door. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to around 1931 and records alterations made between 1946 and 1965.
Sources disagree on how old the Kobayashi Family Residence main house really is. Kiryu City repeats a family tradition that an early Meiji-era house was taken down and re-erected here around 1931. The Kiryu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, by contrast, says the founder's father built it in 1912. This article follows the national database for its date and records the other two accounts as they are given.
Why It Was Registered
The house was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The official description singles out the reception rooms, whose fittings preserve older carpentry methods.
The living quarters began as a four-room plan, with rooms arranged two by two, a layout common in farmhouses and town houses. A suite of formal Zashiki rooms was later added on the south side. On the north, the doma merges with the factory floor, so the Kobayashi household and the looms were never separated by more than a threshold.
According to the chamber's account, the firm spread its fukuro-obi, the heavy double-layered sashes worn with formal kimono, across two adjoining tatami rooms to show them to buyers. The family's best rooms doubled as a showroom, so the house served as a shop front as well as a home.
What to Look For
The roof is a tiled gable in the Kirizuma-zukuri form, with a small hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) porch projecting from the center of the east front. That single porch, set against the broad plain gable behind it, is the face of the Kobayashi Family Residence main house. A lower pent roof, or Geya, wraps around the main block.
Along the base of the walls runs sasarako shitami-ita, a form of lapped clapboarding held in place by vertical battens that are notched to fit each overlap. It takes careful cutting to make the notches meet the boards cleanly, and it is one of the details the registration survey noted.
On the gable ends, three tiers of beams are left exposed rather than hidden inside the wall. Look up at the triangular face of the gable and the stepped framing is easy to pick out.
Visiting
The Kobayashi Family Residence (Former Kotake Textile Co., Ltd.) Main House is a private home and its interior is not open to the public. No open days or guided viewings could be found as of September 2026.
The gate is at the east end of the south side, so the main house sits at the far, western end of the lot as seen from the entrance. Visitors should stay outside the property and view what they can of the roofline from there. Photograph only from outside and avoid aiming a camera into the house or at residents. Directions to the property are on the Kobayashi Family Residence (Former Kotake Textile Co., Ltd.) page.
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Q&A
- When was the Kobayashi Family Residence (Former Kotake Textile Co., Ltd.) Main House built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to around 1931, with alterations between 1946 and 1965. Kiryu City cites a tradition that an early Meiji-era house was moved here around 1931, while the Kiryu Chamber of Commerce and Industry gives 1912, so the sources do not agree.
- Can I go inside the Kobayashi Family Residence Main House?
- No. It is a private home, and as of September 2026 no public openings or tours had been announced. Please view it only from outside the property.
- When was the Kobayashi Family Residence Main House registered as a cultural property?
- It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 7, 2014, as number 10-0313. The factory, both warehouses, the stone wall and the fence were registered the same day.
- What is unusual about the Kobayashi Family Residence Main House floor plan?
- A four-room core had formal reception rooms added on the south, and the earth-floored northern half runs straight into the factory. The reception rooms were reportedly used to lay out obi sashes for buyers.
- How do you pronounce the company name Kotake Textile?
- 小武織物 is read Kotake orimono. Some databases wrongly romanize it as Kobu. The full Japanese reading of the property is Kobayashi-ke jūtaku (kyū Kotake orimono yūgen-gaisha) shuoku.
Basic Information
| Name | Kobayashi Family Residence (Former Kotake Textile Co., Ltd.) Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 1111-3 Fukushima, Hirosawa-cho 5, Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture, and other lots |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2014/10/7 (Heisei 26) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 332 square metres (timber, single storey with a partial 2-storey section, tiled roof) |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (exterior from outside the property) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Kobayashi Family Residence (Former Kotake Textile Co., Ltd.) Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010104
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kobayashi Family Residence Main House
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/210027
- Kiryu City: Kobayashi Family Residence (6 properties) (Japanese)
- https://www.city.kiryu.lg.jp/kankou/bunkazai/1010700/kunitouroku/1011321.html
- Kiryu Chamber of Commerce and Industry: Former Kotake Textile (Japanese, PDF)
- https://www.kiryucci.or.jp/FT/2013fukei/2013fukei-kotake.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.24
