Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence (Former Sakaya Choichiro Family Residence)

Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence

Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence (北前船主屋敷蔵六園, Former Sakaya Choichiro Family Residence) is the estate of a Kitamae-bune shipping family in Hashitatemachi, Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture, where a main house of about 1870 and ten other buildings, 11 in all, were listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 17 February 1999.

The registration was made building by building: the main house, seven entries covering the earthen-walled storehouses, one entry for the storeroom and servants' quarters, and two gates. Country houses of this period usually survive as a main house surrounded by modern replacements. Here the storehouses, the outbuilding and even the gate posts came through together, which is why the whole enclosure could be listed on a single day.

The estate is open to visitors under the name Zorokuen. A lacquered reception room, a street lined with storehouse gables, and a garden of stones carried in by ship are all held inside one property boundary.

The Kitamae-bune trade and the Sakaya family

Kitamae-bune were trading vessels whose owners bought their own cargo. From Osaka they passed through the Inland Sea and worked north along the Japan Sea coast to Hokkaido, buying and selling at each port. The margin between ports went straight into the owner's pocket, and a single successful voyage could pay for a house.

Hashitate was where those owners and their captains lived, and the village was known in its day as the richest in Japan. The Sakaya family, who built Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence, kept a base in Hakodate in Hokkaido and ran the route down to Osaka. Their wealth shows in the finish of the house: the great room, called the oe, is coated in red lacquer, and pine and zelkova of the best grade were used throughout.

One point in the record does not resolve. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database says the main house is traditionally held to have been built as the home of Sakaya Soshichiro, while the registered title names the Sakaya Choichiro family. No primary source consulted here explains how the two names relate.

Where the name Zorokuen comes from

A waterfall stone in the garden looked so much like a turtle that Maeda Toshika, the 14th lord of the Daishoji domain, named the garden Zorokuen. The estate's own website records the naming.

Zoroku is an old word for a turtle, taken from Buddhist writing. A turtle draws its head, tail and four limbs, six parts in all, inside its shell; the term came to stand for restraining the six senses. The stone earned a name from a feudal lord, and the name spread from the garden to the whole property, which is now called Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence.

How the grounds are laid out

The plot of Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence runs back from the road. The main house sits at the centre and turns its gable end toward the street through the trees. Gate 2 faces the front of the main house; Gate 1 stands just north of the entrance and doubles as a length of roofed wall, marking off the inner part of the grounds.

Behind the main house are a detached reception room and a retirement room, with Storehouse 1 closing a courtyard between them. Storehouse 2 stands to the southeast, showing its gable to the road, and the storeroom and servants' quarters occupy the northern end of the eastern boundary, right against the street.

Across the road is the line of storehouses. Storehouse 3 marks the northern end, Storehouse 4 runs parallel just east of it, and Storehouses 5, 6 and 7 and 8 follow along the street. Each held something different: miso, documents, household goods, fishing gear, rice. The wall finishes vary as well, from plain vertical boarding to Namako-kabe on the lower walls and Shikkui plaster worked around the eaves. Walking the street side before going in makes the plan of the place much easier to read.

The village itself is protected. Kaga Hashitate was selected on 27 December 2005 as a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, covering about 11.0 hectares, roughly 680 metres east to west and 550 metres north to south. Its defining features are all present at Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence: main houses entered at the gable end, outer walls clad in vertical boards reused from ship hulls against the salt wind off the Japan Sea, and pale blue-green Shakudani stone in the walls and steps.

The 11 registered buildings

These are the 11 entries on the Registered Tangible Cultural Property list at Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence. They span from the main house of about 1870 to work built in the Taisho era.

• Main House, about 1870, timber, 2 storeys, 369 square metres
• Storehouse 1, 1890, timber, 2 storeys, 30 square metres
• Storehouse 2, 1890, timber, 2 storeys, 20 square metres
• Storehouse 3, 1890, timber, 2 storeys, 26 square metres
• Storehouse 4, 1920, timber, single storey, 25 square metres
• Storehouse 5, 1890, timber, 2 storeys, 38 square metres
• Storehouse 6, Taisho era, timber, 2 storeys, 36 square metres
• Storehouses 7 and 8, Taisho era, timber, single storey, 54 square metres
• Storeroom 1 and Servants' Quarters, 1920, timber, single storey, 37 square metres
• Gate 1, Taisho era, timber, 1.8 metres wide
• Gate 2, Taisho era, timber, with 6.9 metres of attached wall

Only the main house was registered under the criterion of being difficult to reproduce. The other ten were registered for contributing to the historic landscape, which is to say they were judged as part of a street frontage rather than as individual works.

Opening hours and admission

Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence opens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The official website gives the standard hours as 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and notes that the shorter schedule has been in place since December 2021. Admission is 400 yen, or 200 yen for children of primary school age and under.

The house is described as open all year, but it closes at short notice from time to time. A garden and a lived-in property are being kept up alongside the public opening, so anyone travelling a distance should telephone 0761-75-2003 first. There is a tea room looking onto the wildflower garden and a shop selling antiques.

Getting there from Kaga Onsen Station

By public transport, take the CANBUS loop service from JR Kaga Onsen Station on the Sea Route and get off at the Zorokuen stop, which is a few steps from the entrance. Depending on the routing the ride takes 26 to 60 minutes. A taxi from Kaga Onsen Station takes about 10 minutes.

By car it is about 7 minutes from the Katayamazu interchange on the Hokuriku Expressway, about 15 minutes from Komatsu Airport and about 60 minutes from Kanazawa Station. Zorokuen Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence has two free car parks: No. 1 in front of the entrance for cars and minibuses, and No. 2 on Prefectural Route 19, which takes full-size coaches.