Former Fujimura Family Residence (Tamura Family Residence)

A Merchant House on the Old Hokkoku Road

The Former Fujimura Family Residence (Tamura Family Residence) is a townhouse compound on the old Hokkoku Kaidō highway in Honmachi, Nonoichi City, Ishikawa Prefecture, whose eight structures, built between the late Edo period and 1937, were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2021.

Nonoichi grew up as a post town on the Hokkoku Kaidō, the road that linked the Hokuriku coast with the rest of Honshu, and Honmachi was its main street. Walk it today and the Former Fujimura Family Residence announces itself with a single run of frontage: a white plastered storehouse, a modest roofed gate and a tile-capped earthen wall.

The first owner was Fujimura Rihei (藤村理平), a businessman active through the Meiji and Taishō eras. When Emperor Meiji toured the Hokuriku region in 1878, the Fujimura house was chosen as one of his rest stops. The property later passed to the Tamura family, who in 1937 kept the old annex and built a new main house deeper in the lot. That change of hands explains the double name, 旧藤村家住宅（田村家住宅）, or Kyū-Fujimura-ke Jūtaku (Tamura-ke Jūtaku).

Three Generations of Building on One Lot

The eight registered structures fall into three periods. Oldest is the Front Storehouse on the street, dated by the Agency for Cultural Affairs to the late Edo period; the city's announcement adds that it was altered in the late Meiji years.

Four structures belong to the early Meiji period: the Annex, the Rear Storehouse, the Front Gate and the Earthen Wall. Nonoichi City singles out the Annex and the Front Gate as surviving from the time of the imperial visit, and its registration release puts the Rear Storehouse in the same group. The Annex is said to be part of the old main house where the emperor rested.

The newest trio dates to 1937: the Tamura family's Main House, and the Rear Gate and Board Fence on the northern street. Where the Meiji buildings wear clay tile, the rear gate and fence share copper roofing, so the roof material alone tells you which era you are looking at.

Layout and a Walking Order

The lot fronts the old highway on the west and a second street on the north. The simplest way to see it is to begin on the highway side and then walk round to the north.

• Highway side (west): the Front Storehouse stands at the northwest corner facing the road, with the Front Gate to its south. The Earthen Wall runs out from both sides of the gate and turns a right angle at the southern boundary, enclosing the west and south edges.
• Inside the lot: the Main House sits behind the gate. The Annex lies to its southwest, and the Rear Storehouse is joined to the Annex's southeast corner, its garden-facing walls dressed in stone and namako plaster.
• North street: the Rear Gate opens onto the northern street, with the Board Fence running east and west of it. A second stretch of fence stands inside the grounds between the Annex and the western Earthen Wall.

Because the Main House, Annex and Rear Storehouse stand inside the compound, what you can actually see from the street is mostly the Front Storehouse, Front Gate and Earthen Wall, plus the Rear Gate and the northern fence. Each structure's own page covers its construction and sightlines.

What Was Registered and Why

All eight were entered on the national register under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. Their registration numbers run consecutively, 17-292 through 17-299, in the order Main House, Annex, Front Storehouse, Rear Storehouse, Front Gate, Rear Gate, Earthen Wall and Board Fence.

In announcing the registration, Nonoichi City described the Former Fujimura Family Residence as one of the representative houses of the old post town, valuable as a set of buildings and a plot layout that carry the town's modern history. None of the individual structures is especially large. What counts is that storehouse, gate and wall survive together on the highway frontage, and that the compound still includes rooms tied to the emperor's 1878 journey.

Visiting and Getting There

The Former Fujimura Family Residence is a private home owned by an individual, and neither the grounds nor the interiors are open to visitors. Viewing is limited to the exteriors from the public road. Please stay outside the gates and avoid photographs that intrude on the residents' daily life.

The nearest station is Nonoichi-Kōdaimae on the Hokuriku Railroad Ishikawa Line, which starts at Nomachi Station in Kanazawa; the house is a few minutes' walk away. Head for the old highway first to see the storehouse, gate and wall together, then walk round to the northern street for the Rear Gate and Board Fence.