A Taisho Workshop Where Silkworms Once Fed
The newest of the four registered buildings on the Numajiri compound in Kaneda, Tsukuba, is a long two-story structure standing to the southeast of the main house, its ridge set north to south. Called the nagaya, or row building, it went up in the early Taisho era, between 1912 and 1925 by the Agency for Cultural Affairs dating. By then the household had held its place in the village for generations, and this building shows a farm family adapting to the industries of early twentieth-century Japan.
It is the largest of the outbuildings, six ken long and three deep, the ken being the traditional module of about 1.82 meters, for a footprint of roughly 53 square meters. The gabled roof carries sangawara pantiles, and lean-to eaves, the geya-bisashi, wrap around the west and north faces, widening the sheltered working space along two sides of the building.
Downstairs Work, Upstairs Silk
The row building was laid out for labor. The ground floor served as a workshop, the kind of flexible covered space a working farm needs for repairs, processing, and storage. The upper floor had a more specialized job: it was a sanshitsu, a silkworm-rearing room. Sericulture was a major cash earner for rural households across the Kanto region and much of Japan in the Meiji and Taisho years, and raising silkworms demanded warm, well-ventilated upper rooms where trays of larvae could be tended through their growth.
That upstairs silkworm room is the detail that fixes the building in its moment. It ties this quiet corner of Ibaraki to the national silk economy that drove Japan's early modern exports, and it explains the building's generous length: rows of rearing trays needed room to spread out. The wrap-around lean-to eaves on two sides gave the workshop below usable sheltered space in most weather.
The Modern Face of an Old Household
Where the main house speaks of Edo-period village administration and the storehouses of Meiji, the row building carries the compound into the twentieth century. It records how the physical layout of a farm estate looked once modern industry had reached the countryside, with a purpose-built structure for craft work and silk raising added alongside the older dwelling and stores.
The building was entered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 12 July 2005 under the number 08-0178, in the same round as its neighbors. As with the rest of the group, the listing ground is contribution to the historic landscape. Its value lies in completing the arc of the compound: four buildings, from a late-Edo thatched house to a Taisho silk-and-workshop building, that together read as one household's century and a half of change.
Its Life Today
The row building has been put to modern use as a clothing shop, a reuse that keeps it maintained and in circulation much as the café does for the rice store. Because it operates as an independent business, its opening days and hours are set by the shop and can change, so anyone hoping to see it working should check the current situation before setting out.
The compound as a whole is private property and is not run as a museum, so the older buildings are not on any public visiting schedule. View exteriors only from where access is clearly allowed. For guaranteed access to the inside of a historic Ibaraki farm building, the folk-house exhibits at nearby municipal and prefectural heritage facilities remain the surer choice.
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Q&A
- What was the row building used for originally?
- The ground floor was a workshop and the upper floor a silkworm-rearing room. Raising silkworms was a common source of cash income for Kanto farm households in the Meiji and Taisho eras.
- When was it built?
- In the early Taisho era, dated 1912 to 1925. That makes it the most recent of the four registered buildings on the property.
- Is it open to visitors?
- It has been used as a clothing shop, so it may admit customers, but as a private business its days and hours are set independently. Confirm the current situation before you travel.
- Why is a silkworm room historically interesting?
- Sericulture underpinned Japan's early modern silk exports. An upstairs rearing room links this ordinary farm compound to that national economy and reflects how rural households diversified their income.
Basic Information
| Name | Numajiri Family Residence Row Building (Numajiri-ke Jutaku Nagaya) |
|---|---|
| Location | 38-1 Kaneda, Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Registration No. | 08-0178 (46th round) |
| Date registered | 12 July 2005 (gazetted 2 August 2005) |
| Period | Early Taisho era (1912-1925) |
| Count | 1 building |
| Structure | Timber, two stories, pantiled roof; building area approx. 53 m²; gabled, lean-to eaves on west and north; workshop below, silkworm room above |
| Current use | Used as a clothing shop (private business; confirm hours locally) |
References
- National Database of Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs) — Numajiri Family Residence Row Building
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00004760
- Tsukuba City — Protection of Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.tsukuba.lg.jp/soshikikarasagasu/kyoikukyokubunkazaika/gyomuannai/2/1/1001638.html
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education — List of Cultural Properties in Ibaraki
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/art-and-culture/ibaraki-bunkazai/list/
Last verified: 2026.07.02