Fukuda Family Residence Main House

About the Main House

The Fukuda Family Residence Main House (福田家住宅主屋, Fukuda-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) in Higashisako, Noichi-cho, Konan City, Kochi Prefecture, is a single-storey timber house built in 1924 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 21, 2002. It covers 150 square meters under a tiled hip-and-gable roof (Irimoya-zukuri).

The Fukuda Family Residence Main House sits in the middle of the lot with its ridge running east to west, the largest of the eight registered buildings. Its southwest end joins the bath and toilet building, and the garden gate in front of the entrance opens onto the south garden.

A Model Modern Japanese House

The Fukuda Family Residence Main House was registered as a model of architectural design, under register number 39-0056.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a good example of the modern Japanese-style residence in Kochi. The term describes houses of the late 19th and early 20th centuries that kept a traditional Japanese form while taking on newer materials, fittings and planning ideas. The other feature singled out is the gable decoration in Kote-e, plaster relief worked with a trowel.

Eight Rooms and a Gabled Porch

The Fukuda Family Residence Main House measures 7.5 ken by 5.5 ken (one ken is about 1.8 meters). Lean-to roofs (Geya) run along the east, south and west sides, leaving the north side without one.

The eight rooms are arranged in three rows around a 12.5-mat reception room (Zashiki) in the southeast corner. Open to the south and east, it is the room the rest of the plan is built around.

The entrance projects from the western part of the south front under its own hip-and-gable roof. Seen from the south, the porch gable overlaps the larger gable behind it. The relief in the gable triangles was built up in wet lime plaster by a plasterer working with a trowel.

Seeing the Main House

The Fukuda Family Residence Main House stands near the center of the compound. The guest hall, reception wing, storehouse and gate line the west side, and a 2.2-meter outer wall encloses the south, east and north. Being single-storey, it is hard to see from outside the lot.

No interior opening has been announced, and the grounds are not open to visitors. Access details for the whole compound are on the Fukuda Family Residence group page.