A Clapboard Front on a Tiled Japanese House
The Mori Family Residence (Former Nomura Mokuma Residence) Main House (森家住宅（旧野村茂久馬邸）主屋, Mori-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a two-storey timber house of the early Taisho period at Otsu 2595 in Nahari Town, Aki District, Kochi Prefecture, and was entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 18 October 2000. It has a tiled roof and a building area of 218 square metres.
According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, it was built as the Nahari home of Nomura Mokuma, remembered as the "transport king of Tosa". The plan splits cleanly in two. A two-storey block stands along the road, and a single-storey wing for everyday living projects from its east side.
The two-storey block runs north to south, 10 Ken along the ridge (Ketayuki) and 3 ken across (Harima). That makes it about 18 metres long but only about 5.5 metres deep: a long, shallow box set against the street, screening the household life behind it.
Why the Main House Was Registered
The Mori Family Residence Main House was registered under the criterion of a building that serves as a model of design. The three stone walls on the same plot were listed for a different reason, as works that would be hard to reproduce. Here it was the form itself that counted.
What makes the form worth recording is the way it mixes two traditions. The roof is a hipped-and-gabled Irimoya-zukuri covered in Sangawara-buki pantiles, the frame of an ordinary Japanese timber house. The street wall, though, is clad in horizontal weatherboarding, Shitami-itabari, and pierced with tall, narrow windows, what the Agency calls a Western-style finish. In a town whose older houses lean on white plaster and tile, a boarded wall with vertical windows under a tiled roof stands out.
A Western face to the street and a conventional household behind it was a common approach among well-off provincial families in the Taisho years, when new styles were adopted first on the side the public saw. The Nomura Mokuma house shows how a man who made his name in transport applied that approach to the house he built in his home town.
What to Look For
Eighteen metres of boarded wall
Start with the full length of the two-storey block facing the road on the west. The 10-ken wall runs without a break, with windows of matching width repeated on both floors. Weatherboards are lapped horizontally, so level lines cross the whole face; the tall windows cut through them at regular intervals, and the two sets of lines read almost like a grid.
A Japanese roof on a Western wall
Step back far enough to take in the roof and you can see the gable of the irimoya and the courses of tile sitting directly on top of the boarded wall. This is not a Western house built from scratch but a Japanese house wearing Western cladding, and on the Mori Family Residence (Former Nomura Mokuma Residence) Main House the seam between the two is left in plain view.
The southwest corner
From the southwest corner of the two-storey block, the West Stone Wall carries on south along the road. Stand at that corner and look north for timber boarding, south for beach stones laid as an ishiguro wall. It is the one spot where the two faces of the house front meet.
Seeing the Main House
The Mori Family Residence Main House is a lived-in home and its interior is not open to the public. The exterior can be seen from the road on the west. The far side of the road gives the best chance of fitting the whole two-storey block into view, but watch for traffic. The single-storey wing on the east sits deep in the plot and is barely visible from outside.
There is no published policy on photography. Stay off the property and avoid pointing a lens closely at windows or the entrance. Directions and the town-walk booking details are on the Mori Family Residence (Former Nomura Mokuma Residence) page.
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Q&A
- Can you go inside the Mori Family Residence (Former Nomura Mokuma Residence) Main House?
- No. It is a private home and the interior is not open. The exterior can be viewed from the road on the west side.
- When was the Mori Family Residence Main House in Nahari built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the early Taisho period. It was built as the Nahari home of the businessman Nomura Mokuma.
- Why is the Mori Family Residence Main House described as Western-style?
- Its street wall is clad in horizontal weatherboarding with tall, narrow windows. The roof is a conventional hipped-and-gabled tiled roof, so it is a Japanese house frame with a Western-style finish.
- How big is the Mori Family Residence (Former Nomura Mokuma Residence) Main House?
- The building area is 218 square metres. The two-storey block facing the road is 10 ken long (about 18 metres) and 3 ken deep (about 5.5 metres).
- When was the Mori Family Residence Main House registered as a cultural property?
- It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 October 2000, as a building that serves as a model of design.
Basic Information
| Name | Mori Family Residence (Former Nomura Mokuma Residence) Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | Otsu 2595, Nahari Town, Aki District, Kochi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 18 October 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 2-storey timber building, tiled roof, building area 218 square metres (2-storey block 10 ken by 3 ken) |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Interior closed to the public (exterior visible from the road) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001976
- Cultural Heritage Online: Main House (Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/178196
- Japan Heritage Portal: component property entry (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese)
- https://japan-heritage.bunka.go.jp/ja/culturalproperties/result/3447/
- Database of National Cultural Properties: West Stone Wall (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001978
Last verified: 2026.09.27
