Iwase Family Residence New Reception Wing

A Second Suite of Formal Rooms

The Iwase Family Residence New Reception Wing (岩瀬家住宅新座敷, Iwase-ke Jūtaku Shinzashiki) is a two-storey wing of formal rooms (Zashiki) built in the late Meiji period behind the main house of a salt-producing family's estate in Shinhamacho, Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture; it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 March 2019 (registration no. 37-433).

The wing is attached to the northern rear corner of the main house. It is a wooden building of 2 storeys under a hipped roof (Yosemune-zukuri) of interlocking pantiles, running east to west, with a building area of 74 square metres. Downstairs is a suite of connected formal rooms; upstairs, at the west end, is one more.

The word shin, meaning new, marks it as a later addition to a main house built around 1890. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the wing to the late Meiji period, after the main house.

Why It Was Registered

The Iwase Family Residence New Reception Wing is valued for the quality of its decorative alcove fittings and for how consistently they were carried through.

The alcove post (Tokobashira) is a peeled and polished log, the raised front edge of the alcove floor is ebony, and the transom (Ranma) above the built-in writing bay (Tsukeshoin) is cut in a pattern the Japanese call tōmi-gasumi, bands of mist seen at a distance.

What the Agency singles out is that both floors share the same modern design. The upstairs room was finished to the same standard as those below, suggesting the whole wing was planned as a place to receive guests.

The 2018 recommendation treats the wing, together with the main house, as the core of the estate.

What to Look For

From outside, the interest lies in how the two roofs meet: the hipped roof of the east-west wing butts at a right angle against the hip-and-gable roof of the north-south main house, and the buildings step up in height as they go deeper into the property.

Inside, the play of materials is the point: the pale, smooth surface of the polished log post against the near-black ebony. The mist-pattern transom sits over the writing bay, where it would catch daylight filtering through paper screens.

The plan, with formal rooms at the north end of the main house leading straight into those of the Iwase Family Residence New Reception Wing, shows how far into the house a valued guest might be taken.

Seeing the Reception Wing

The wing is part of a private home and is not open to visitors. Because it stands behind the main house, it is almost entirely hidden from outside the property.

The Agency's database entry is the best available description of the interior. Directions and general viewing conditions for the estate are covered on the Iwase Family Residence page.