Two Roofs, One House
The Yokomine Family Residence Main House (横峯家住宅主屋, Yokomineke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a thatched farmhouse of around 1877 in the Nagasato district of Chiran, Minamikyūshū City, Kagoshima Prefecture, entered on Japan's national register of Tangible Cultural Properties in 2007. It stands at the center of its plot, facing east, some distance from the walled samurai quarter that draws most visitors to Chiran.
The plan is what makes it worth knowing about. Two separate blocks sit side by side with their ridges crossing at right angles, joined slightly off-axis rather than flush. The larger block, called the omote, measures four and a half ken along the ridge by four ken deep, roughly 8 by 7 meters; this is where the family received guests and slept. The smaller block, the nakae, runs four ken by three, and held the earthen-floored kitchen and the hearth. Both are single-story, timber framed, hipped and thatched. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records a building area of 121 square meters.
Set the two blocks apart and you have the standard house of southern Kyushu and the Ryukyu islands: separate pavilions for living, cooking, the horse, the bath, the privy. Bring them together under connected roofs and you have a futatsuya. Do it the way carpenters in Chiran did it, with a small linking ridge called a komune bridging the gap between the two roofs, and you have the Chiran type.
Why a Farmhouse Ends Up on the Register
Registration came on 31 July 2007, with public notice on 13 August; the register number is 46-0044. The criterion applied was that the building serves as a model of its form, which in the Agency's vocabulary means it demonstrates a type clearly enough to be a reference point for the type.
That wording is doing real work here. Chiran-type futatsuya are close to gone. Minamikyūshū City counts three survivors in total: two inside the Chiran preservation district and one elsewhere in the municipal area. The Yokomine house is the one outside the district, standing where it was built rather than moved to a heritage site, in a farming settlement that has no ticket office and no interpretive panels.
It is also worth being precise about the legal status. Registration (tōroku) is not designation (shitei). The register, created in 1996, was aimed at the vast stock of Meiji, Taishō and early Shōwa buildings that would never qualify as Important Cultural Properties but would vanish without some protection. Owners notify rather than seek permission before making changes, and in exchange receive limited tax relief and access to repair subsidies. For a thatched house that a family still owns privately, that lighter touch is often the difference between survival and demolition. Thatch has to be renewed every few decades, and the cost falls on the household.
Reading the Form, Even from a Distance
The date is roughly 1877, the year Satsuma went to war with the new central government. Rural Kagoshima was not a wealthy place in the aftermath, and a house of this size represents a substantial farming family rather than a grand one.
What to notice, if you ever see a Chiran futatsuya in person: the junction. In most connected-pavilion houses across Japan the two roofs simply run into each other, or a gutter carries water away where they meet. Chiran carpenters instead inserted a low ridge running crosswise, so that three roof forms read as one silhouette from the approach. The offset between the blocks is deliberate too; it leaves a sheltered pocket at the join where the kitchen entrance sits.
Inside a house of this type, the omote holds the tatami rooms in a row, with the best room at the back for guests and the household altar. The nakae keeps its packed earth floor, its cooking range and its open hearth, and stays smoky; the soot is what preserves the roof timbers and the underside of the thatch. Separating fire and smoke from the sleeping rooms was the original logic of the divided plan, and it made good sense in a region that is hot, humid and prone to typhoons.
Visiting: What Is and Is Not Possible
The Yokomine house is privately owned and is not open to the public. Kagoshima Prefecture's register lists the owner simply as a private individual, and the building appears on neither the city's cultural property tour pages nor any sightseeing itinerary. There is no parking, no reception and no arrangement for entry. Please do not approach the property or photograph into the grounds; people live there.
The form itself, though, can be seen. In the Chiran samurai quarter, about a quarter of an hour away by car, a relocated Chiran-type futatsuya stands roughly midway along the main street. The city designated it a cultural property in 1982, and it is opened up so that the interior arrangement can be studied from outside; visitor accounts report that it can be looked at without the garden pass, since it sits on the public street. The seven gardens of the Chiran Samurai Residence Gardens, a nationally designated Place of Scenic Beauty within an Important Preservation District, are open 9:00 to 17:00 year round for 530 yen for adults and 320 yen for children. The Kyū-Takiki Family Residence stands in the same district and gives another reading of local domestic building.
Getting to Chiran: buses from Kagoshima-Chūō Station take about seventy to seventy-five minutes to the Bukeyashiki-iriguchi stop, which is a minute's walk from the street. By car it is roughly ten minutes from the Chiran interchange on the Ibusuki Skyline. Photography along the preservation district street is unrestricted, though the residences behind the hedges are private homes and the same courtesy applies there as at Nagasato.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Kagoshima
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Yokomine Family Residence Main Building
- [ Sakurajima Ferry & Yakushima World Heritage ]
Q&A
- Can the Yokomine Family Residence Main House be visited or entered?
- No. It is a privately owned dwelling in the Nagasato district of Chiran, with no visitor facilities, no parking and no public opening. It does not appear on any city tour route, and visitors are asked not to approach the property.
- What is a Chiran-type futatsuya, and how does the Yokomine Family Residence Main House show it?
- A futatsuya is a farmhouse whose living block (omote) and kitchen block (nakae) began as separate pavilions and were later joined. In the Chiran version the two roofs are linked by a small crosswise ridge called a komune. At the Yokomine house the two blocks are set at right angles and slightly offset, with the omote measuring four and a half ken by four and the nakae four ken by three.
- When was the Yokomine Family Residence Main House built and when was it registered?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to around 1877, in the tenth year of the Meiji era. It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 31 July 2007, with public notice on 13 August, under register number 46-0044.
- Where can I see a Chiran-type futatsuya if the Yokomine Family Residence Main House is closed?
- A relocated example stands midway along the main street of the Chiran samurai quarter, designated by the city in 1982 and left open so its plan can be read from outside. The Chiran Samurai Residence Gardens nearby are open 9:00 to 17:00 all year, 530 yen for adults and 320 yen for children.
- Is the Yokomine Family Residence Main House a National Treasure or an Important Cultural Property?
- Neither. It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, a lighter category created in 1996 for buildings of the modern era. Registration works by notification rather than permission, giving owners more freedom to repair and adapt the building while still recognizing its value.
Basic Information
| Name | Yokomine Family Residence Main House (横峯家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1226 Nagasato, Chiran-chō, Minamikyūshū City, Kagoshima Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure); register number 46-0044 |
| Year Designated | Registered 31 July 2007 (public notice 13 August 2007) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-story timber frame, hipped thatched roof; building area 121 m²; omote 4.5 by 4 ken, nakae 4 by 3 ken |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Not open to the public; a private dwelling with no visitor facilities |
References
- 国指定文化財等データベース「横峯家住宅主屋」（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006563
- 鹿児島県「国登録有形文化財（建造物）一覧」
- https://www.pref.kagoshima.jp/ba08/documents/101223_20221118115125-1.pdf
- 南九州市「【市指定有形】知覧型二ツ家民家」
- https://www.city.minamikyushu.lg.jp/sport_bunka_kyoiku/rekishi_bunkazai/2/3/4161.html
- 南九州市「知覧地域の文化財」
- https://www.city.minamikyushu.lg.jp/sport_bunka_kyoiku/rekishi_bunkazai/2/3/index.html
- 全国伝統的建造物群保存地区協議会「南九州市知覧」
- https://www.denken.gr.jp/archive/minamikyushu-chiran/index.html
- 鹿児島県観光サイト かごしまの旅「知覧武家屋敷庭園群」
- https://www.kagoshima-kankou.com/guide/11053
Last verified: 2026.08.11