Komoda Family Residence Main House

About the Komoda Family Residence Main House

The Komoda Family Residence Main House (小茂田家住宅主屋, Komoda-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is an early Meiji-period sericulture farmhouse in Naganuma-machi, Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on February 17, 2004. It faces south from the centre of the Komoda family's plot: a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a footprint of 278 square meters, the largest of the four registered buildings and, with the well house, the oldest.

The core is a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled block, 10 ken long and 5 ken deep, roofed with Sangawara-buki pantiles. A Geya lean-to one ken wide runs along the north side, and a two-storey wing with a roof hipped at one end is attached to the west. The upper floor served as the silkworm room, so the family's living space and its silkworm workshop were stacked inside one building.

The Mitsu-yagura: A Model of Form

The Komoda main house was registered as "a model of form," a different criterion from the other three buildings on the plot. What earned it that status is the row of three raised ventilation roofs, or Koshi-yane, along the ridge. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls them the mitsu-yagura, the "three turrets," and treats them as a symbol of an area that led the way in silkworm-egg production and silkworm rearing.

A koshi-yane is a small roof set on top of the main ridge, with openings along its sides that let heat and damp escape from the floor below. Gunma Prefecture describes the three on the Komoda Family Residence Main House as ventilation windows. Seen from outside, the three turrets announce what went on upstairs: this was a house where silkworms were raised.

According to Isesaki City, Komoda Tōkitsu (小茂田藤橘), founder of the Naganuma-gumi, also ran the house as a sericulture training school called the Shinjinkan (親仁館). The Komoda main house was a family home and, at the same time, a place where neighbouring farmers learned the craft.

What to Look For

Start with the ridge line of the Komoda Family Residence Main House. The ridge runs 10 ken, about 18 meters, and the three koshi-yane sit along it at intervals. Their sides are open as windows, and that is where the silkworm room upstairs met the outside air.

Then look at the flanks. The two-storey west wing has a roof hipped at one end, unlike the plain gable of the main block, and the lean-to on the north side drops a step below the main eaves and adds depth to the building. From the front the long gabled block dominates; walk round to the west and north and the house turns out to be a combination of differently roofed parts.

Visiting the Komoda Main House

The Komoda Family Residence Main House is a private home and its interior is not open to the public. Gunma Prefecture's guide likewise limits viewing to the exterior, so the silkworm room upstairs and the inside of the koshi-yane cannot be seen.

From outside, look up at the main roof with its mitsu-yagura. Please do not enter the grounds, and take photographs only from public ground. The history of the homestead and directions are on the Komoda Family Residence page.