Former Kono Family Residence (from Oda, Ehime)

A Small Mountain Farmhouse of Iyo

The Former Kono Family Residence (from Oda, Ehime) (旧河野家住宅（旧所在 愛媛県上浮穴郡小田町）) is a mountain farmhouse of southern Iyo with a two-room-wide plan, slatted floors and a kozo-steaming hearth of the early 18th century 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 12.6 by 6.7 metres with a thatched hip-and-gable roof; designation number 02130.

A Mountain Farmhouse with Slatted Floors

The former Kono Family Residence, a small mountain farmhouse of the early 18th century, stood near the western end of the Shikoku Mountains at Oda in Ehime and now stands in the Shikoku Folk House Museum at Yashima, Takamatsu (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is 12.6 by 6.7 metres with a thatched hip-and-gable roof.

It is one of the older surviving examples of the standard two-room-wide farmhouse of southern Iyo, and unusual in having slatted bamboo or wood floors throughout its raised area. Very well preserved, it also keeps the hearth for steaming kozo, the mulberry bark used to make paper (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Is an Important Cultural Property

The Agency values the house as an older example of the southern Iyo farmhouse, very well preserved, with slatted floors and a kozo-steaming hearth.

What to Look For

At the Kono house, look for the slatted floors throughout the raised area and the kozo-steaming hearth (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.