A house that pretends to be built of stone
The Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building is a 2-story timber house of 1937 on the high ground at Dainichikubo in Edosaki, Inashiki City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and it was entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 2 October 2007 (Heisei 19). It faces south, measures 11 meters along the ridge and 9.2 meters across, and covers a building area of 173 square meters. The roof is slate, and a chimney rises from it.
The walls are the first thing to understand. They are mortar over timber, but the mortar is scored with joint lines at regular intervals so that the surface reads as blocks of dressed stone. Nothing about the material is concealed once you are close enough to touch it. From the drive, and in photographs, the illusion holds.
Above the south front the roof is half-hipped, and a semicircular pediment breaks the eaves line. The Agency for Cultural Affairs, in its entry on the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building, notes that the influence of Art Deco and other currents appears here and there rather than governing the whole design, which is a fair description of a house that borrows confidently and never quite settles into one style.
The ground it stands on matters. The terrace looks east over the Edosaki-iri reclamation, the drained inlet that had once carried shallow water inland from Lake Kasumigaura. Uetake Shobei, for whom the house was built, led that reclamation work. The house was placed to look at what he had made.
Why the building carries registration number 08-0223
The Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building holds registration number 08-0223, the first of three numbers issued to this residence on 2 October 2007, ahead of the Japanese-style building at 08-0224 and the storehouse at 08-0225. All three went onto the Registered Tangible Cultural Property list under the criterion that a building contributes to the historic landscape of Japan.
Prewar western-style houses of this ambition are usually the work of a named architect and usually stand in a city. This one stands in farmland above a drained inlet, and its details are looser and more inventive than the government offices and industrialists' mansions of the same decade. The city of Inashiki, reporting the registration in its newsletter of August 2007, made exactly that point: the freedom in the detailing is what sets the house apart from its metropolitan contemporaries. The same article records that a name plaque found in the roof space during recent survey work identified the master carpenter as Sakamoto Eiji.
The building also carries a stretch of national history that has nothing to do with architecture. According to the city, as the war years closed in, the imperial prince Kuni Asaakira, a naval officer, used the house for a time as a residence. After 1945 the property changed hands and was run as a wedding and banquet venue under the name Dainichien, which is still the name the estate goes by.
What to look for at the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building
Stand square to the south front first and read the roof. A half-hipped slate roof is already an unusual choice in the Kanto countryside of the 1930s, and the semicircular pediment set into it gives the elevation a centre that the plan does not really have. The chimney is recorded in the official description, a detail worth registering because it tells you the house was heated in the western manner.
Then look at the joint lines in the mortar. Follow them around a corner and watch what happens where the imitation courses have to turn. Stone would need a quoin. Mortar does not, and the wall simply continues, which is the moment the trick becomes visible.
Inside, the room to ask about is the large hall on the upper floor. The city of Inashiki describes the view from it as taking in the reclaimed land and, beyond it, the spread of Lake Kasumigaura. That view is the reason the house sits where it does, and it is the one thing about the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building that no photograph of the exterior can give you.
Before leaving, walk west. The timber Japanese-style building adjoins this one, and the earthen storehouse adjoins that. The joint between the western rooms and the tatami rooms is where the design is doing its hardest work.
Visiting the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building
The Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building is privately held, the Agency for Cultural Affairs recording the owner as Mitomo Service Co., Ltd., and there is no fixed opening schedule. A local preservation body, the NPO Inashiki Traditional Culture Preservation Society, has been involved in caring for the estate since the registration, and the city of Inashiki published its telephone number as the contact point at that time. Visits have customarily been arranged by calling ahead. Days of opening are irregular, and the buildings are closed when the site is booked for events or filming, so confirm before travelling. Whether the interior can be seen on any given day depends on the manager.
Photography needs the manager's agreement. The estate has a long record of use as a filming location, and that history makes the owners careful rather than relaxed about cameras.
There is no railway station anywhere in Inashiki City. From Tokyo, take the Joban Line to Tsuchiura, then the JR Bus Kanto Kasumigaura Line to Edosaki, a journey of about 45 minutes from the station. From the Edosaki-sakaue bus stop the walk takes about 3 minutes, rising onto the terrace. By car, leave the Ken-o Expressway at Inashiki Interchange. Cars can be left in the open ground inside the gate, which was the garden when the house was new.
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Q&A
- Can I go inside the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building?
- Only by arrangement. The house is private property within the Dainichien estate and has no fixed opening hours. Viewing has customarily been set up in advance by telephone with the local preservation society that looks after the site, and interior access is decided case by case.
- When was the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives 1937. The city of Inashiki adds that the ridge-raising ceremony was held that year and the house was entered in the land register in 1939. It became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 October 2007.
- What architectural style is the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building?
- It resists a single label. The official description notes Art Deco influence appearing in places, over a timber frame finished in mortar scored to imitate stone, under a half-hipped slate roof with a semicircular pediment.
- How large is the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building?
- It is 11 meters along the ridge by 9.2 meters across, with a building area of 173 square meters over 2 stories, and it has a chimney.
- How do I get to the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building?
- Inashiki City has no train station. Take the Joban Line to Tsuchiura and the JR Bus Kanto Kasumigaura Line to Edosaki, about 45 minutes, then walk about 3 minutes from the Edosaki-sakaue bus stop. Drivers use Inashiki Interchange on the Ken-o Expressway.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building |
|---|---|
| Location | 2354 Dainichikubo, Edosaki, Inashiki City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), registration number 08-0223 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 2 October 2007 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 11 meters along the ridge by 9.2 meters across; building area 173 square meters; 2 stories |
| Owner | Mitomo Service Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not regularly open; viewing by prior arrangement with the manager |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006237
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Western-Style Building
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/143501
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education, Cultural Properties of Ibaraki: Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence, Western-Style Building and two others
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6077/
- City of Inashiki, Koho Inashiki, August 2007 issue (No. 29)
- https://www.city.inashiki.lg.jp/data/doc/1254669620_doc_2.pdf
- City of Inashiki: Transport access
- https://www.city.inashiki.lg.jp/page/page000119.html
Last verified: 2026.09.06