The Oldest Dated Farmhouse in Eastern Japan
The Shiina Family Residence (椎名家住宅, Shiina-ke jūtaku) is a thatched farmhouse built in 1674 in Kamo, Kasumigaura City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on April 25, 1968. Its official name, Shiina Family Residence (Dejima Village, Niihari District, Ibaraki Prefecture), keeps the name of the village it belonged to at the time.
According to Kasumigaura City, the Shiina were an old family whose heads took the name Moemon generation after generation, and who served as village officials of Kamo in the Edo period. The house stands in farmland on the north shore of Lake Kasumigaura and is a straight, single-block sugoya facing south.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as 15.3 m by 9.6 m under a Yosemune-zukuri hipped roof of Kayabuki thatch. The Doma earthen floor lies on the west side and the rooms on the east (Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education).
Why It Matters
The Shiina Family Residence was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1968. During the dismantling repair of 1970 and 1971, an ink inscription reading Enpo 2 (1674) was found on a tenon of a heavy lintel, making it the oldest farmhouse in eastern Japan with a firmly known date, according to the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education. The Agency's own description had estimated the mid-17th century; the repair after designation settled the date. The house was restored to its original form (Kasumigaura City).
The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the house differs from those of central Ibaraki and follows a type common around Lake Kasumigaura, and values it as representative of southern Ibaraki. Kasumigaura City calls it a textbook hiroma-type farmhouse, a plan found from northern Chiba to southern Ibaraki.
Its carpentry is old as well. The roof frame uses naturally curved beams, as in other old Kanto farmhouses; the main posts were finished with a clam-edged adze, and the boards of the partition doors were planed with a spear plane (Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education).
What to Look For
The heart of the Shiina Family Residence is the board-floored hiroma beside the earthen floor. The prefecture explains that a free-standing post rises near the front centre of this room, the front lattice windows use round bamboo, and the rear of the room, unpartitioned but marked off by a wall that drops to lintel height, holds the hearth and served as the family's everyday space. Behind the hiroma, three rooms run from front to back: an entry room, a zashiki and a sleeping room.
Between the hiroma and the earthen floor there are no partitions and no ceiling, so you can look straight up into the curved beams of the roof frame. From outside, note the deep thatched roof and the lattice windows on the south front.
The Kasumigaura City Museum of History, in Saka, has a display corner that partly reproduces the Shiina house, shown with everyday tools of the early modern and modern periods (Kasumigaura City).
Visiting the Shiina Family Residence
The Shiina Family Residence is privately owned and stands at 4148 Kamo, Kasumigaura City. The city's heritage listing gives no opening days or hours. Some tourism listings say the interior can be seen on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, but no caretaker is permanently on site, so enquire before you go if you hope to go inside. The city's contact for cultural properties is the Kasumigaura City Museum of History (029-896-0017).
The grounds are part of a private home, so keep to reasonable daytime hours. No official directions by public transport or guidance on photography were found.
Q&A
- When was the Shiina Family Residence built?
- In 1674, according to an ink inscription found on a lintel tenon during the 1970 and 1971 repair.
- When was the Shiina Family Residence designated an Important Cultural Property?
- On April 25, 1968.
- Why is the Shiina Family Residence called the oldest in eastern Japan?
- Its inscription makes it the oldest farmhouse in eastern Japan whose construction date is firmly known.
- Can you go inside the Shiina Family Residence?
- There is no official opening schedule. Tourism listings mention Fridays to Sundays, but contact the Kasumigaura City Museum of History in advance to be sure.
- What is the layout of the Shiina Family Residence?
- A hiroma type, centred on a large board-floored room by the earthen floor, with an entry room, a zashiki and a sleeping room behind it.
Basic Information
| Name | Shiina Family Residence (Dejima Village, Niihari District, Ibaraki Prefecture) (椎名家住宅) |
|---|---|
| Location | 4148 Kamo, Kasumigaura City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Designated 1968/4/25 (Showa 43) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 15.3 m by 9.6 m, hipped roof, thatched |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Exterior viewable; no official schedule for the interior (enquire in advance) |
References
- Shiina Family Residence (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/264
- Shiina Family Residence (Cultural Properties of Ibaraki, Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education)
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/kuni-16/
- Shiina Family Residence (Kasumigaura City)
- https://www.city.kasumigaura.lg.jp/page/page003256.html
- Kasumigaura City Museum of History (Kasumigaura City)
- https://www.city.kasumigaura.lg.jp/page/page003843.html
Last verified: 2026.10.05