Majima Family Residence Main House

About the Majima Family Residence Main House

The Majima Family Residence Main House (間島家住宅主屋, Majima-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a thatched farmhouse of the late Edo period (1830 to 1867) in Mure, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006.

The house stands near the middle of the triangular Majima plot, facing south. It is a single-story timber building with a footprint of 174 square meters, laid out as a rectangle 18 meters long and 9 meters deep. The registration notes that it comes with a privy, the small outbuilding set into the west side of the estate's outer wall.

Why the Majima Main House was registered

The Majima Family Residence Main House was registered as a model of design. It is the only one of the five Majima structures registered on that ground; the other four were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a good example of a farmhouse of Sanuki, the old name for Kagawa. The reason is the roof. A thatched Yosemune-zukuri hipped roof covers the core of the house, and a tiled Geya lean-to roof in Hongawarabuki style runs all the way round it. This two-tier form is known as Shihōbuta-zukuri and is characteristic of Sanuki farmhouses.

When the house was registered, the thatch was covered with temporary metal sheeting. The registration still records the roof as thatch, with the sheeting noted in brackets as a temporary covering.

What to look for in the Majima Main House

Inside, the house divides east from west. The eastern part is a Doma, an earth-floored work area, and the western part holds the raised, floored living rooms. A smoke vent rises from the ridge toward its eastern end, so even from outside you can tell where the earth floor lies below.

In the middle of the south front is an entrance with a Shikidai, a low boarded step for receiving guests formally. A farmhouse with this kind of entrance was built to welcome visitors with some ceremony.

From just west of that entrance, the inner wall of the Majima Family Residence Garden Gate and Earthen Wall runs south. The south front of the Majima Main House therefore looks onto two gardens: a forecourt before the entrance and an inner garden before the reception rooms.

Visiting the Majima Family Residence Main House

The Majima Family Residence Main House is a private home, and we found no notice that its interior is open. Because it stands in the middle of the estate, behind the outer wall and the gatehouse, we could not confirm how much of it can be seen from outside. Please stay off the property and keep residents out of any photographs.