Yaita Family Residence Main House

An Edo Townhouse on the Old Port of Nishinoomote

The Yaita Family Residence Main House (八板家住宅主屋) is a late Edo timber townhouse, single-storey with a partial upper floor, on the old harbour of Nishinoomote in Nishimachi, Nishinoomote City, Kagoshima Prefecture, which in 2017 was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a tiled roof and a building area of 151 square metres, altered in the Showa 30s, and registered as a model of design.

The Agency values it as a rare early modern townhouse surviving in a port town.

Structure

According to the Agency, the house is four and a half bays wide and seven and a half deep, entered at the gable end and facing east onto the street.

Along the earth-floored passage run two rows of two rooms each, and at the back a middle room leads to a projecting inner reception room. An upper floor sits over the middle room, and the open ceiling is shaped like a ship's hull.

What to Look For

The ship's-hull ceiling suits a house in a port town. Notice the gable-end front and the rooms lined along the earthen passage.

It preserves the form of an early modern townhouse in the old harbour district of Nishinoomote.

Visiting the Yaita Family Residence Main House

No official information on visiting conditions could be found. Do not enter the property without permission.

Enquiries go to the Nishinoomote City board of education.