The House Itself
The Former Tango Family Residence Main House (旧丹後家住宅主屋, Kyū Tango-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a house of 1933 in Notobekami, Nakanoto-machi, Kashima District, Ishikawa Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 27 October 2017. It is a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a footprint of 308 square metres, entered in the register as number 17-277.
The national database dates it to 1933 with alterations later in the early Shōwa period; Nakanoto Town says 1933 with a partial extension. Either way, the house was altered not long after it was finished, although the published sources do not say which parts changed.
Why It Was Registered
Of the four registered items at the Former Tango Family Residence, the main house is the only one accepted as a model of its type. The storehouse and the two walls were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs regards the Tango main house as a typical example of modern Japanese-style domestic architecture from Notobekami, a community that did well out of hemp cloth. Its outward form is the Azumadachi, which the town describes as a gable-roofed, gable-entry house finished in Sangawara-buki tiles.
The Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism League presents the house as a record of the years when the Tango were building up silk production and looking for buyers overseas. Nakanoto Town sees the Tango main house as an early Shōwa Nakanoto farmhouse built with carpentry handed down since the Edo period.
Two Doors Behind the Great Door
According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the core of the Former Tango Family Residence Main House measures 6.5 Ken across the front and 7.5 ken deep, with a lean-to Geya running round all four sides. The town gives the same figures. Most of the house is a single storey, with an upper floor over part of it.
The house stands a little back from the old road and turns its broad gable to the front. Because the lean-to roofs wrap around below the main gable, the roofline steps down in two stages.
You enter through the ōdo, the heavy main door. The detail the Agency singles out lies just inside: two sliding doors side by side, one into the niwa and the other into the tōri-doma, a passage one ken wide. Both are earth-floored Doma spaces, so a single entrance splits two ways the moment you step through it.
Seeing the Main House
The Tango main house stands behind a forecourt enclosed by the front wall, so from the street you see its gable and the lean-to roofs over the top of the wall. The two-stage roofline reads best from a little way down the road.
The interior has been used as a rental venue booked through Nakanoto Town. As of July 2024 the town had suspended use because of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. The two doors inside the ōdo will have to wait until the building reopens.
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- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Tango Family Residence Main House
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Q&A
- What kind of building is the Former Tango Family Residence Main House?
- It is an azumadachi-style timber house with a tiled roof and a footprint of 308 square metres. Mostly single-storey with an upper floor over part of it, it has a core 6.5 ken wide and 7.5 ken deep wrapped by lean-to roofs on all sides.
- When was the Former Tango Family Residence Main House built and registered?
- It was built in 1933 and altered later in the early Shōwa period. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 27 October 2017, under number 17-277.
- What does azumadachi mean at the Former Tango Family Residence Main House?
- Nakanoto Town describes the main house as a gable-roofed, gable-entry house with sangawara tiles in the azumadachi manner: the gable end faces the front, and the entrance is set beneath it.
- Why is the Former Tango Family Residence Main House a registered cultural property?
- It was judged a typical example of modern Japanese-style housing from Notobekami, a district that prospered on hemp cloth, and accepted as a model of its type. It is the only one of the four Tango items registered on that basis.
- Can I go inside the Former Tango Family Residence Main House?
- The town rents it out by reservation, but as of July 2024 use was suspended because of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake. Check with the Nakanoto Town Planning and Information Division before visiting.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Tango Family Residence Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 12-1 Notobekami He and other lots, Nakanoto-machi, Kashima-gun, Ishikawa Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 27 October 2017 |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | Timber, 2 storeys (partly single-storey), tiled roof, building area 308 square metres |
| Owner | Nakanoto Town |
| Public Access | Rental venue by reservation (use suspended after the Noto Peninsula Earthquake, per a 2024 town notice) |
References
- 旧丹後家住宅主屋 (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011943
- 旧丹後家住宅主屋 (Cultural Heritage Online)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/444929
- Kominka Former Tango Residence (Nakanoto Town)
- https://www.town.nakanoto.ishikawa.jp/soshiki/kikaku/1/2/3/6085.html
- Nationally Registered Cultural Properties (Nakanoto Town)
- https://www.town.nakanoto.ishikawa.jp/childcare_education_culturalproperty/6/1/4974.html
- Former Tango Residence (Hot Ishikawa Tabi-net, Ishikawa Prefecture Tourism League)
- https://www.hot-ishikawa.jp/spot/detail_21457.html
Last verified: 2026.09.29
