Oto Family Residence Main House

What the Main House Is

The Oto Family Residence Main House (大藤家住宅主屋, Ōtō-ke Jūtaku Omoya) in Shiraichi, Takaya-cho, Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, is the shop and living quarters of a former distilling family, built around 1929 and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on February 17, 2022. It is a 2-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 128 square meters.

It faces east onto the street of the Honmachi quarter and takes the corner where that street meets a lane called Nishinokawa-dori. The ground floor was for the family's daily life and the upper floor for receiving guests. The house was remodeled around 1975.

Why It Was Registered

The Ōtō main house is register no. 34-0300, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs sums it up as a building that shows how prosperous Shiraichi was in the early Showa period.

Higashihiroshima City goes further. It describes the Oto Family Residence Main House as an expression of the airy, open taste of the late Taisho and early Showa years and the townhouse that best represents early Showa Shiraichi, and because it stands where the main street crosses Nishinokawa-dori, as an element the townscape could not do without.

Of the four Ōtō buildings on the register, this was the first to be listed; the others followed three years later.

A Glass-Lit Passage and an Open Upper Floor

The roof is a hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) laid with pantiles (Sangawara-buki), with the entrance on the gable end (Tsumairi). The eaves on the east front are carried on projecting beams in the Degeta-zukuri manner, while those on the north side are sealed in Shikkui plaster. At street level the front has glazed sliding doors and wooden lattice.

Inside, an earth-floored passage runs along the south side, and four rooms, the shop among them, line up to the north. The south wall of the passage is set with many glass windows. The city singles this out as a deliberate effort to bring in light and keep the whole house bright and open.

Upstairs are two connected Zashiki reception rooms with a corridor along their south side. According to the city, that corridor originally had no sliding doors or paper screens at all, only storm shutters. Slide the shutters back and the rooms stood open to the outside. It is the boldest touch in the Ōtō main house. The Agency's database includes a photograph of the Tokonoma alcove in the western room upstairs.

Seeing the Main House

The interior of the Oto Family Residence Main House is not normally open, but the exterior can be seen from the street. Stand in front of the east facade to take in the projecting eaves and the ground-floor combination of glass doors and lattice. Because the house sits on a corner, its side elevation is also visible from the road.

In years when the interior opens for a local event, the passage and the upstairs rooms may be on view. Follow the organizers' guidance on which parts can be entered and whether photographs are allowed.