Former Kanno Family Residence (from Kuchinai-cho, Kitakami City, Iwate Prefecture)

What Is the Former Kanno Family Residence?

The Former Kanno Family Residence (旧菅野家住宅, Kyū Kanno-ke Jūtaku), originally located in Kuchinai-cho, Kitakami City, is an Edo-period farmhouse now standing in the Michinoku Folklore Village in Tachibana, Kitakami, Iwate Prefecture; its main house, built in 1728, was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1965, and its front gate, built in 1720, was added to the designation in 1976.

The house first stood in the Nagahora district of Kuchinai-cho. In the Edo period that land belonged to the village of Shimo-Kuchinai, on the Sendai (Date) side of the boundary with the Morioka (Nanbu) domain. Kitakami City records that the Kanno family served as ōkimoiri, a village headman of higher rank than ordinary headmen. The Michinoku Folklore Village reaches the same conclusion by comparing the building with the Gogunkata Shikimoku, a Date-domain code of 1719 that set rules for rural housing by rank.

Two buildings make up the designation. The main house measures 21.3 meters across its frontage and 11.6 meters deep, under a hipped Yosemune-zukuri roof of thick Kayabuki thatch. Its ridge runs in one straight line, a plan known locally as sugoya. The front gate is a single-bay Yakuimon with a thatched gable roof. Two documents are designated with the buildings: the 1728 construction account book for the main house and a Munafuda ridge tablet for the gate.

Why the Former Kanno Family Residence Matters

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the main house as a typical farmhouse of the former Sendai domain in southern Iwate. What sets the Former Kanno Family Residence apart is that its dates come from written evidence rather than stylistic guesswork. The account book fixes the main house at 1728, and the ridge tablet places the gate in 1720. Kitakami City calls it the oldest farmhouse in Iwate Prefecture whose construction date is firmly known.

The gate joined the designation in 1976, eleven years after the house. The agency gave three reasons: it had been moved and preserved together with the main house, its date was clear, and it formed a single ensemble with the house. By then the main house had already been relocated to the grounds of Tenshochi Park, Kitakami's municipal park.

A gate like this was a statement. In the Date domain, households of village-head rank and above are said to have been allowed a surname, a sword, and a gate, and the folklore village points to the Kanno yakuimon as an example of that privilege. Seeing the gate and the house together is the clearest way to read the family's standing.

Highlights: The Earthen Floor and Chestnut Posts

Step through the gate and the roof takes over the view. Seen from the front, the thatch covers far more surface than the walls beneath it.

Inside the Former Kanno Family Residence, notice how much of the floor is bare earth. According to Kitakami City, the Doma takes up nearly half the building. The folklore village gives the footprint as 250.8 square meters, and much of the household's daily work would have been done on this earthen floor.

Look down at the base of the posts as well. The village notes that the house sits on ishibadate foundations, with each post set directly on a flat stone placed on the ground, and that the main posts are chestnut. Those chestnut posts carry the full weight of the thatch.

The gate is eight years older than the house. Its thatched gable gives it a much softer outline than the tiled yakuimon most visitors meet at temples, and looking back at the house from the gateway shows how complete the homestead layout remains.

Visiting the Former Kanno Family Residence

The Former Kanno Family Residence stands inside the Michinoku Folklore Village (みちのく民俗村), an open-air museum run for Kitakami City. Admission is free, and according to the village, visitors can go inside all ten of its thatched farmhouses, this one included. Opening hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with last entry at 4:30 p.m.

The village is open every day from April through November. From December through March it closes on Mondays (the following day if Monday is a holiday), on the day after each national holiday, and over the New Year period. Reception is in the Former Konno Family Residence near the entrance.

The nearest station is Kitakami on the Tohoku Shinkansen; the village is about 15 minutes by car from the west exit. Drivers coming off the Tohoku Expressway at Kitakami-Ezuriko Interchange take Route 107 and then head east on Route 4 for about 4.5 kilometers, cross the Kitakami River on Sango Bridge, turn right at the T-junction, and continue south for about 1 kilometer.

The village's official pages say nothing about photography indoors, so ask at reception if you plan to take pictures inside. Open flames are banned throughout the grounds, and pets are not admitted (assistance dogs excepted).