Former Shimoki Family Residence (from Ichiu, Tokushima)

A Dated Mountain Farmhouse of 1781

The Former Shimoki Family Residence (from Ichiu, Tokushima) (旧下木家住宅（旧所在 徳島県美馬郡一宇村）) is a well-made, firmly dated mountain farmhouse from north of Mount Tsurugi of 1781 in Yashimanakamachi, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture (Shikoku Folk House Museum), and was designated an Important Cultural Property on February 16, 1982 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a farmhouse 14.0 by 9.1 metres with a thatched hipped roof, a southern earthen pent roof and a cedar-bark lean-to on the east; designation number 02129.

A Farmhouse with Kokibashira Posts

The former Shimoki Family Residence, a mountain farmhouse of 1781, stood north of Mount Tsurugi at Ichiu in Tokushima and now stands in the Shikoku Folk House Museum at Yashima, Takamatsu (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is 14.0 by 9.1 metres, with a thatched hipped roof, an earthen pent roof on the south and a cedar-bark lean-to on the east.

Its plan is a type of the two-room-wide layout found widely in Shikoku; it is firmly dated and well made. Its structure is also notable: every interior post is a kokibashira, through which beams pass to be tenoned into the roof beams (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The Agency values the house as firmly dated and well made, with a notable structure of kokibashira posts throughout.

What to Look For

At the Shimoki house, look for the kokibashira posts throughout the interior and the thatched hipped roof (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

The house is owned by the Shikoku Folk House Museum Foundation (Agency for Cultural Affairs). According to the official site of the Shikoku Folk House Museum (Shikokumura Museum), it is open 9:30 to 17:00, with last entry at 16:30, and closing days are given in a yearly calendar; no admission fee was found. The two houses are introduced together on the Shikoku Folk House Museum (Shikokumura) page.