Urushibara Family Residence Main House

What the Main House Is

The Urushibara Family Residence Main House (漆原家住宅主屋, Urushibara-ke Jūtaku Omoya) in Mitani-cho, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture, is the late Edo period (1751 to 1830) home of a rural samurai family, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on February 27, 2023.

It is a single-storey timber house with a building area of 321 square meters, by far the largest of the eight registered structures on the estate. The thatched roof is temporarily sheathed in copper, with tiles over part of it. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records alterations around 1902 and again in the mid Showa period.

Why It Was Registered

The Urushibara main house is register no. 37-0477, listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency's description calls it a grand house whose heavy timber proportions express the family's rank.

Its reputation is older than the listing. According to Shinya Ishida of the Kagawa Prefectural Board of Education, the Urushibara Family Residence Main House was included in the prefecture's 1969 survey of traditional farmhouses and made it through to the second round. It was dropped before the final round, and the owners have looked after it for more than 50 years since.

A Shihobuta Roof and an 11-Room Plan

The roof follows the Shihōbuta-zukuri form typical of Sanuki farmhouses: a high thatched roof ringed on all four sides by lower tiled eaves. Here it is built on an unusually large scale and faces south. Beneath the present copper, layer on layer of rethatching survives intact. In the roof space the ropes that bind the thatch to the frame are left in view, and the way they are knotted is itself a record of local practice.

The eastern half of the house is an earth-floored work area (Doma) entered through a large plank door. Separately, a formal step-up entrance (Shikidai) received guests of standing.

The raised floor is based on two rows of three rooms but subdivided irregularly into 11 rooms in all. To the south, a waiting room for visitors' attendants, the tomomachi-beya, projects as a wing (Tsunoya). Two entrances and a room for retainers to wait in: the plan is organized around receiving callers of different rank.

Between the main reception room and the adjoining upper room, a carved transom shows waves and rabbits. The floor of the entry area is finished in polished mortar darkened with ink.

Visiting the Urushibara Family Residence Main House

The Urushibara Family Residence Main House is the family's home and is not open to visitors. As of September 28, 2026, no open days or tours had been announced.

The house stands inside the walled compound, behind the nagayamon gate, and cannot be seen as a whole from the road. Photographs of the roof and interior are available in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database. No policy on photography or access has been published, so please do not enter the grounds.