An Imperial Lodging, Taken Apart and Rebuilt
The Zashiki Wing of the Iida Family Residence (飯田家住宅座敷棟, Iida-ke Jūtaku Zashiki-tō) is a single-story timber building in the Tomikawa-minami district of Hidaka Town, Hokkaido, dating from 1911 and entered on Japan's national Register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 19 December 2014.
The record kept by the Agency for Cultural Affairs traces the building back to a different site. In 1911 a house was raised in what was then the town of Monbetsu, put up as quarters for the Hokkaido tour of Crown Prince Yoshihito, who became Emperor Taishō the following year. That August the Crown Prince left Tokyo, landed at Hakodate aboard the cruiser Katori on the twentieth, and continued by way of Otaru and Sapporo as far as Asahikawa.
Forty years later the Monbetsu house came down. In 1951 two zashiki rooms and the east corridor, together the formal core of the old building, were carried to Tomikawa and reassembled, with new sections added around them. What stands today covers 56 square metres of ground area under a sheet-metal roof.
The salvaged part is the point. Everything wrapped around it is later work.
Why It Was Registered
Registration is not designation. National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties are designated, and the legal protection that follows is heavy. Registered tangible cultural properties belong to a lighter system introduced in 1996 for buildings roughly fifty years old or older that are still standing in ordinary use. Owners keep considerable freedom to repair and adapt; in return the state offers assistance with the cost of design supervision for repair work, along with reductions in property tax. This wing carries registration number 01-0142 and came in with the 79th round of registrations.
Three criteria are available when a building is registered. The one recorded here is that it is a model of design (造形の規範となっているもの).
The reason for that judgement lies inside. Good hinoki, Japanese cypress, was used generously in the structural frame. Hinoki does not grow wild in Hokkaido, its natural northern limit lying in the southern part of Tōhoku, so the timber was almost certainly shipped north. Above the formal room is an orīage gōtenjō: a coffered grid whose edges are lifted on a curved cove. That ceiling type belongs to temple halls and to the audience rooms of daimyo. Here it sits over a building of 56 square metres on the Hokkaido coast.
The rest of the zashiki fittings are complete. There is a tokonoma alcove and a tsukeshoin, the built-in desk alcove with its own shoji window that gives shoin-style rooms their name. The sliding screens are finely made, and the kazari-kanagu, the chased metal fittings that cap nail heads and edge exposed timber, are worked rather than plain.
Seeing It, and the Limits on Seeing It
Something has to be said plainly first. This is a private house. The owner field in the national record is left blank, as it is for privately held property, and no public opening is listed by Hidaka Town or by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Treat the address as somebody's home.
The exterior can be looked at from the public road. The grounds cannot be entered, and there is no arrangement for photographing the interior. Anyone hoping to see more should contact the Hidaka Town Board of Education before travelling. The photograph attached to the national record was supplied by that office, which suggests enquiries about the building are handled there.
Reaching Tomikawa now takes a car. The stretch of the Hidaka Main Line between Mukawa and Samani closed on 1 April 2021, and Tomikawa Station closed with it. The nearest motorway exit is Hidaka-Tomikawa on the Hidaka Expressway, roughly an hour by road from New Chitose Airport. Public transport is the Hidaka regional bus network, operated by JR Hokkaido Bus and Donan Bus, whose timetables are worth checking before setting out rather than after arriving.
One other registered building stands in the same town: the Main House of the Iida Family Residence, at Monbetsu-honchō, about fifteen minutes east by car along Route 235. It is also a private home, and the same restraint applies there.
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Q&A
- Is the Zashiki Wing of the Iida Family Residence in Hidaka Town open to visitors?
- No public opening is listed by the Agency for Cultural Affairs or by Hidaka Town, and the building is privately held. The exterior can be seen from the public road, but the grounds are private. Contact the Hidaka Town Board of Education before planning a visit around it.
- What exactly was moved when the Iida Family Residence Zashiki Wing was relocated in 1951?
- Two zashiki rooms and the east corridor, taken from a building erected in the former town of Monbetsu in 1911. Those parts were carried to Tomikawa, rebuilt, and surrounded by newly constructed sections. The national record gives no reason for the move.
- Did the future Emperor Taishō stay in the Iida Family Residence Zashiki Wing?
- The record states that the original Monbetsu building was put up as quarters for the Crown Prince's tour. It does not say he lodged there, and what stands in Tomikawa is a partial reassembly on a different site four decades later. Any stronger claim is best checked with the town.
- What should I look for in the Iida Family Residence Zashiki Wing?
- The coved coffered ceiling above the formal room, the tokonoma alcove, the tsukeshoin desk alcove, the chased metal fittings, and the hinoki in the frame. Since hinoki does not grow in Hokkaido, that timber arrived by ship.
- How do I reach the Iida Family Residence Zashiki Wing without a car?
- With some difficulty. Rail service ended on 1 April 2021 when the Mukawa to Samani section of the Hidaka Main Line closed, taking Tomikawa Station with it. The Hidaka regional bus network run by JR Hokkaido Bus and Donan Bus now serves the area; check timetables in advance.
Basic Information
| Name | Zashiki Wing, Iida Family Residence (飯田家住宅座敷棟, Iida-ke Jūtaku Zashiki-tō) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-401-50 Tomikawa-minami, Hidaka Town, Saru District, Hokkaido |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 01-0142 |
| Year Designated | 19 December 2014 (79th round of registrations) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Ground area 56 m²; single story, timber frame, sheet-metal roof |
| Owner | Not published in the national record (privately held) |
| Public Access | No public opening listed; exterior visible from the public road only |
References
- National Database of Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Iida-ke Jūtaku Zashiki-tō
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010242
- Cultural Heritage Online: Iida-ke Jūtaku Zashiki-tō
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/274246
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Structures)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/toroku_yukei.html
- Hidaka Town, Hokkaido: Tourism and Culture
- https://www.town.hidaka.hokkaido.jp/culture/
- JR Hokkaido: Hidaka Regional Public Bus Network
- https://www.jrhokkaido.co.jp/hidakasen/
Last verified: 2026.08.27