What the Morisawa Family Residence Annex Is
The Morisawa Family Residence Annex (森澤家住宅離れ, Morisawa-ke jūtaku hanare) is a single-storey timber reception wing of the middle Meiji period in Doi, Aki City, Kochi Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 10 November 2005. It stands at the northeast corner of the estate with its ridge running east to west.
It measures 5 and a half by 3 bays under a gabled roof of pantiles, with a building area of 65 square metres. A ten-mat room fitted with an alcove and shelves leads into a six-mat room, with a veranda along the south side and a toilet at the southeast end.
The walls are clad in battened clapboard. The north face has a projecting lattice window 2 bays wide toward its east end, and the east face has a barred Musha-mado window toward its south end.
Why It Was Registered
The Morisawa Family Residence Annex was registered, like the rest of the estate, for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records its plan and exterior in detail and lists it as one of the buildings that make up the residence.
What defines this building is the ten-mat room with its alcove and shelves. A room given a Tokonoma alcove and shelves is the mark of a formal room for receiving guests. Add a second room, a veranda and a private toilet, and you have a self-contained suite where a day could be spent without once going over to the main house.
Detached wings like this were typically used for entertaining guests or as quarters for a retired head of the family. The registry does not say which applied here. But its position at the northeast corner, as far as possible from the main house, and its walled south garden make plain that it was meant as a quiet place set apart from the household's routine.
What to Look For
Picture the south side first. The two rooms open through the veranda onto a garden enclosed by the earthen section of the inner wall. That wall is 13 metres long, 1.7 metres high and 0.3 metres thick, plastered on both faces and capped with pantiles. Rooms, veranda and garden form a single composition inside it.
The outward-facing walls show another face entirely. On the north, a projecting lattice window 2 bays wide; on the east, a barred musha-mado. Both let in light and air while blocking the view in. Open to the garden, guarded toward the road: the Morisawa Family Residence Annex keeps two faces in one building.
The barred window on the east face repeats the vocabulary of the gatehouse at the southeast corner. With the two buildings on the east edge using the same kind of window, the estate presents a consistent front along that side.
Visiting
No interior opening of the Morisawa Family Residence Annex has been announced (checked 25 September 2026). The rooms and veranda face the south garden and cannot be seen from outside. If anything is visible, it will be the lattice window on the north face and the barred window on the east, both on the boundary.
Directions to the estate and guidance on viewing it are on the Morisawa Family Residence page.
Q&A
- What rooms does the Morisawa Family Residence Annex contain?
- A ten-mat room with an alcove and shelves, followed by a six-mat room, with a veranda on the south side and its own toilet at the southeast end.
- Where is the Morisawa Family Residence Annex?
- At the northeast corner of the Morisawa Family Residence, with its ridge running east to west. Its south garden is enclosed by the earthen section of the inner wall.
- What is distinctive about the windows of the Morisawa Family Residence Annex?
- The outward-facing walls are guarded by lattice: a projecting lattice window 2 bays wide on the north face and a barred musha-mado window on the east face.
- How large is the Morisawa Family Residence Annex?
- It is a single-storey gabled building of 5 and a half by 3 bays with a pantiled roof and a building area of 65 square metres.
- Can you visit the Morisawa Family Residence Annex?
- No interior opening has been announced. The rooms face the south garden; only the north and east windows on the boundary may be visible from outside.
Basic Information
| Name | Morisawa Family Residence Annex (森澤家住宅離れ) |
|---|---|
| Location | 559 Doi, Aki City, Kochi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building), No. 39-0199 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2005/11/10 (Heisei 17) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber building, tiled roof, building area 65 square metres |
| Owner | Not listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (no interior opening announced) |
References
- Cultural Heritage Database (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Morisawa Family Residence Annex
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005045
- Kochi Prefecture: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Buildings)
- https://www.pref.kochi.lg.jp/doc/2023062200186/
Last verified: 2026.09.25
