Tottori Family Residence

A Village Mayor's Household

The Tottori Family Residence (鳥取家住宅, Tottori-ke Jūtaku) is a country house in Toyonaka-cho, Mitoyo City, Kagawa Prefecture, whose twelve buildings, put up between the early Meiji and early Showa periods, were entered as Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 14 October 2021.

Tottori here is a family name, and the house has nothing to do with Tottori Prefecture, which lies far to the north on the Sea of Japan coast. It stands among rice fields on the Mitoyo Plain, in what was once Kasada Village. According to the owner's website, the Tottori were the village's largest landowners and supplied a run of village mayors from the late Meiji period onward; local broadcaster KSB describes them as hereditary headmen, or Shōya, under the Edo shogunate. The main line of the family still lives nearby, and Hisako, Princess Takamado, was reported by KSB to come from this family.

The registered house belongs not to the main line but to a branch. Tottori Jūzaburō (1859 to 1933) split from the main household in 1875 and built here under the house name Maejin'ya. Family tradition, recorded on the owner's website, holds that the estate was divided equally between the two brothers, an unusual arrangement. Jūzaburō went on to serve as Kasada's fourth village mayor.

Three Generations of Building

Jūzaburō began with the Main House, on land southeast of the main family's compound. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the early Meiji period, between 1868 and 1882. The owner's website explains that this date is inferred from its style and from the Rice Storehouse and East Barn, which went up in 1894, and notes an unconfirmed family story that the house was moved here from elsewhere.

The earthen Storehouse followed in 1906. Jūzaburō then built the Rear Zashiki behind the Main House as his retirement quarters, and the Hiya and the West Barn were added in the late Meiji years as well.

The next generation reshaped the Tottori Family Residence. Oral accounts say a fire in the Taisho era destroyed the southern side of the compound, including an earthen wall and a gatehouse. Jūzaburō's eldest son, Fujio (1885 to 1972), who became Kasada's seventh mayor, spent the late Taisho and early Showa years rebuilding: a two-storey reception wing with a Western-style annex (the New Zashiki), a bathhouse, an extension to the East Barn, new gardens and gates. He also built a greenhouse where he grew aoi plants and kept songbirds, running a hobby circle he called the Aoi Society Kachoen.

Today the compound is looked after by Jūzaburō's great-grandson. Since 2016 the New Zashiki has operated as a guesthouse named Kachoen after Fujio's old club.

How the Compound Is Laid Out

The owner's website gives the site as about 1,000 tsubo, or roughly 3,300 square metres. The Main House sits at the centre facing south. Across an inner courtyard to its south stands the New Zashiki, and between the two a small gate with flanking walls, the East Gate, divides the courtyard. The Bathhouse stands northwest of the New Zashiki, linked to the Main House by a covered corridor.

West of the Main House, also facing the courtyard, is the Rear Zashiki. Covered walkways connect it to the Bathhouse and to the Hiya, which stands just north of it. The West Gate opens on the south side of the Rear Zashiki's own garden, and its bamboo fence runs west to meet the Greenhouse, which closes the western edge of the site and forms the backdrop to the garden beside the New Zashiki.

North of the Main House lies the working yard. The Storehouse faces east, the West Barn stands beside it, and the long Rice Storehouse runs east to west along the northern boundary. The East Barn, southeast of the Main House, frames the eastern side of the compound.

A Kagawa Prefectural Board of Education officer told KSB that the residence was valued because so many buildings for everyday life survive, the compound as a whole reflects local custom well, and the arrangement of the buildings still shows how the household lived.

The Twelve Registered Buildings

All twelve buildings of the Tottori Family Residence were entered in the 100th round of registrations on 14 October 2021, under consecutive numbers 37-0450 through 37-0461. Three of them, the New Zashiki, the Bathhouse and the Rear Zashiki, were registered as models of good design; the other nine for their contribution to the historic landscape.

• Main House (37-0450): early Meiji; timber, single storey; thatch sheathed in sheet iron, partly tiled; 139 square metres
• New Zashiki (37-0451): early Showa; timber, 2 storeys; tiled, partly copper; 128 square metres; with stone wall
• Bathhouse (37-0452): early Showa; timber, single storey; tiled; 34 square metres
• Rear Zashiki (37-0453): late Meiji; timber, single storey; tiled; 58 square metres
• Storehouse (37-0454): 1906; earthen storehouse, 2 storeys; tiled; 66 square metres
• Rice Storehouse (37-0455): 1894; earthen storehouse, single storey; tiled; 72 square metres
• Hiya (37-0456): late Meiji; timber, 2 storeys; tiled; 37 square metres
• West Barn (37-0457): late Meiji; timber, 2 storeys; tiled; 64 square metres
• East Barn (37-0458): 1894; timber, 2 storeys; tiled; 95 square metres
• Greenhouse (37-0459): early Showa; timber, single storey; tiled; 40 square metres
• East Gate (37-0460): early Showa; timber; tiled; opening 1.4 metres, total length 4.3 metres
• West Gate (37-0461): early Showa; timber; sheet-iron roof; opening 1.3 metres; with flanking fence

The stone wall along the New Zashiki is not a separate entry; it is registered as part of that building. Each building has its own page with details of its construction.

Visiting

The Tottori Family Residence is privately owned. There are no regular opening days or admission fees, and the owner's website lists no public visiting hours. Anyone hoping to see the grounds should contact the owner in advance.

The one sure way inside is to stay at Kachoen, the guesthouse in the New Zashiki. It is let to a single party per night, and guests can also use the wood-fired bath in the Bathhouse. The Rice Storehouse has been converted into a fitness studio, and the owner's website says visits and trial sessions can be arranged by phone.

No photography rules are posted. Some buildings are still part of a family home, so ask before taking pictures on the grounds.

The nearest station is Hijidai on the JR Yosan Line, about 5 minutes away by car according to the owner's website, and guests can arrange a free pickup there. Drivers can reach the house in about 2 minutes from the Sanuki-Toyonaka interchange on the Takamatsu Expressway.