Motooka Family Residence Main House

About the Motooka Family Residence Main House

The Motooka Family Residence Main House (本岡家住宅主屋, Motooka-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a two-storey timber house in Motomachi 2-chome, Kanazawa City, Ishikawa Prefecture, built in 1882 and moved in 1902, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 27, 2006.

It measures 11.5 Ken along the ridge and 7 ken deep (Ketayuki and Harima), with a footprint of 353 square meters, under a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles. It stands toward the west side of the plot and is the centrepiece of the four registered structures there.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives its date as "1882, moved 1902", so the house had stood for twenty years before it was relocated. The Agency does not say where it came from.

Registered as a Model of Design

The Motooka Family Residence Main House was registered as a building that serves as a model of form and design. The storehouses and the gate on the same plot were registered for their part in the landscape; the main house is the only one of the four chosen on this criterion.

In the Agency's assessment, its materials, its size, and its design all stand out. Besides the sheer scale, the Agency points to the heavy sashimono beams used inside.

A sashimono is a thick horizontal timber jointed between posts to carry the load above. Because it lets a builder leave out intermediate posts, it was often used to open up wide rooms and earth-floored work areas in large houses.

A Gable End Turned to Face the Visitor

What sets the Motooka Family Residence Main House apart is its front: the triangular gable end of the roof faces forward, with the entrance set in that gable end, the Tsumairi arrangement. The Agency describes this as the so-called azuma style (東造り).

A large main door, the ōdo, opens in that front. The eaves are carried on Mochiokuri, brackets projecting from the wall that take the weight of the overhang.

On a gable-fronted house, the full height of the roof becomes the height of the facade. With two storeys and a broad frontage, the Motooka house presents an unusually tall face. The ōdo and the eave brackets are the details to look for.

Viewing the Motooka Family Residence Main House

The Motooka Family Residence Main House is a private home, and no opening of the interior, regular or special, could be found. The sashimono beams inside are not on view.

A visit means looking at the exterior from the public road. The gable front, the ōdo, and the eave brackets are what to look for, but how much can be seen from outside the plot is best checked on the spot. Please take photographs from the road and keep clear of the household.