The wing that fed a large household
The Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen (宮本家住宅炊事場, Miyamotoke Jūtaku Suijiba) is an early Meiji period building of 1868 to 1911 at Hojo in Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 1 July 2003. It runs eastward from the southern part of the dwelling house's east wall, a separate structure that was always used as one with the home.
The floor area is 37 square metres. Cooking was its purpose, but a bath and storage rooms are attached as well. The national record calls it a kitchen on a large scale, and the scale follows directly from the size of the household: the Miyamoto family brewed and sold soy sauce and fed everyone the business supported.
The building is timber and single-storeyed, its ridge running east to west. The east end is finished as Irimoya-zukuri, a hipped gable, while the western end merges into the roof of the dwelling house. Pentice roofs project on the north and south sides, and the covering is tile.
What it means for a kitchen to be listed
The Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen carries registration No. 08-0084, entered under the criterion for buildings that contribute to the historic landscape of the country.
Reception rooms and storehouses tend to survive; kitchens and bathrooms do not. They are the first parts of a house to be modernised, and when the plumbing changes the walls and floors usually go with it, sometimes the whole structure. An early Meiji cooking wing that has survived intact enough to be registered is an uncommon thing.
Part of the reason this one survived is structural. It is continuous with the dwelling house, so demolishing it would have meant opening up the east wall of the family's living quarters. The result is that the service side of a merchant's property, the side that handled water and fire, is still on the site along with the public face. The 8 registered buildings at Hojo can be read straight through, from shop to storehouse to living rooms to kitchen.
What to look for
Follow the roof from east to west. It begins as a hipped gable showing its end wall, then loses that identity as it runs into the roof of the house. A separate building reads as a continuous one, and this junction is why.
The pentice roofs on the north and south are practical rather than decorative. A kitchen is a place of hot water and comings and goings, and the sides that people used most needed shelter overhead.
The thing to trace at the Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen is the seam with the dwelling house. From outside there is no clear line where cooking stops and living begins. Functions were separated, yet everything stayed under one continuous run of roof, and that ambiguity is how a merchant household in Hojo actually organised its days.
Visiting
The Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen remains part of a private house in use, and the interior is not open. It sits well inside the plot, so there is no direct view of it from the road either.
What visitors see is the street frontage of the compound, the shop storehouse and the gate. In some years the interior of the shop storehouse is opened during autumn events, which gives a better sense of how deep the property runs. The Hojo town-building association posts the dates.
Photograph the compound from the public road only. The grounds, including this building, are private and closed to visitors.
Everything starts at Tsukuba Center, the terminal outside Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express. The Oda Shuttle covers the distance in about 45 minutes to Hojo Nakamachi. The Hokubu Shuttle stops at Tsukuba Koryu Center after about 30 minutes, about 10 minutes on foot from the old street. Trains on the JR Joban Line connect at Tsuchiura Station, about 40 minutes away by Kantetsu Purple Bus.
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Q&A
- Can the Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen be visited?
- No. The interior is closed, and because the building stands in the middle of the plot it cannot readily be seen from the street either.
- What did the Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen contain?
- A large cooking area, with a bath and storage rooms attached. The building covers 37 square metres.
- How old is the Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen?
- It dates from the early Meiji period, within the range of 1868 to 1911, and was registered on 1 July 2003 as No. 08-0084.
- How is the Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen joined to the dwelling house?
- It extends east from the southern end of the dwelling house's east wall, and its western roof runs into that of the house, so from outside the two appear as one building.
- How do I reach the Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen?
- The Oda Shuttle from Tsukuba Station reaches Hojo Nakamachi in about 45 minutes, which is the shortest route. From Tsuchiura Station the Kantetsu Purple Bus takes about 40 minutes.
Basic Information
| Name | Miyamoto Family Residence Kitchen |
|---|---|
| Location | 188 Hojo, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 1 July 2003 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 37 square metres, single-storey timber construction |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Interior closed; located within the compound and hard to see from the street |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Miyamotoke Jutaku Suijiba
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00003362
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education, Cultural Properties of Ibaraki: Miyamotoke Jutaku Misegura and seven other buildings
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6404/
- Tsukuba City, Protection of Cultural Properties (list of registered tangible cultural properties)
- https://www.city.tsukuba.lg.jp/kankobunka/bunka/rekishi/1001638.html
- Tsukuba Sanroku Hojo, Hojo Town Development Association: Highlights
- https://tsukuba-hojo.jp/highlights/
- Tsukuba-michi Hojo Sanpo, Hojo Town Development Association: Access
- https://old.tsukuba-hojo.jp/access.html
Last verified: 2026.09.07