Nomura Takao Family Residence

A Samurai Household Registered Building by Building

The Nomura Takao Family Residence (野村隆男家住宅, Nomura Takao-ke Jūtaku) is a late Edo-period (1830–1867) samurai house in Doi Kakuchū, the old warrior quarter of Doi in Aki City, Kochi Prefecture, whose main house, gate, wall, toilet and bath building, barn, firewood shed and well were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 12 July 2005. Aki City and the local tourist association simply call it the Nomura Family Residence (野村家住宅, Nomura-ke Jūtaku), and that is the name you will see on signs.

All 7 items were registered on the same day and carry consecutive numbers, 39-0188 to 39-0194. Each was accepted for the same reason, its contribution to the historic landscape. What makes the Nomura Takao Family Residence unusual is how far down the list goes: not only the house but a small privy, a woodshed and even a stone-lined well in the ground are registered one by one.

The property was donated to Aki City in 2008 and is now open to the public. About 40 old houses survive in Doi Kakuchū, but according to the tourist association this is the only one open to the public.

Retainers of the Gotō Family

Doi Kakuchū grew up around the site of Aki Castle, a stronghold of the Warring States period, after the Gotō family, senior retainers (karō) of the Tosa domain, built a large residence there in the Edo period. The quarter measures roughly 410 metres east to west and 360 metres north to south, about 9.2 hectares, and on 9 July 2012 it was selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.

According to Aki City, the Nomura family came from Yamakita village in Kami District (now Yamakita, Kagami-chō, Kōnan City) and entered Gotō service after the Gotō moved to Aki. They held the post of sōyaku, handling the household's finances and the appointment of its retainers.

The national database dates all 7 items to the end of the Edo period. The Aki City Tourist Association goes further and puts the main house at around 1830, in the Tenpō era, which would make it the oldest house left in the quarter.

Hedges here were never an afterthought. Aki City notes that a register of 1767 already set out detailed rules for looking after the hedges and trees of each plot, so the clipped green walls around the Nomura Takao Family Residence belong to a very old pattern.

How the Grounds Fit Together

The house faces a lane on its west side. The gate stands a little south of the middle of the western boundary, and once through it you look straight at the west gable of the main house, with a formal Shikidai entrance set in its centre.

From the south side of the gate a low wall of clay and broken tiles runs east to a second, smaller gate attached to the south-west corner of the house, which the national record calls the south heijū-mon. Aki City explains that houses in the quarter are often approached along a bent path of hedges and walls rather than straight in from the street, and the prefectural tourism site describes this side gate as a defensive feature.

North of the main house, the outbuildings line up along the western edge. Just north of the gate is the toilet and bath building, then the barn with its rice store, and in the north-west corner the firewood shed, joined to the barn by a short roofed passage. The well lies north-west of the kitchen wing, right in front of the woodshed door.

A natural circuit is to come in through the gate, look at the wall and the side gate, go through the main house, then walk round to the back yard and follow the well, woodshed, barn and privy south to where you started. Front and back, formal and workaday, all sit within a few steps of each other.

Visiting: Hours, Fees and Getting There

Admission to the Nomura Takao Family Residence is free and it is open every day. Aki City gives the hours as roughly 8 a.m. until about 5 p.m., subject to change in bad weather, and the tourist association suggests allowing about 30 minutes. Neither the city nor the tourist association says anything about photography, so if it matters, check with the Aki Tourist Information Center (tel. 0887-34-8344).

Remember that Doi Kakuchū is a lived-in neighbourhood as well as a protected district, and Aki City asks visitors to behave accordingly. Other houses in the quarter are private homes, so admire their gates from the lane.

The nearest station is Aki on the Tosa Kuroshio Railway Gomen-Nahari Line. From there it is about 5 minutes by car, 10 minutes by rental bicycle or 30 minutes on foot. The city's Genki Bus stops at Noradokei-mae, about 2 minutes' walk from the quarter. By car, allow about 25 minutes from the Geisei-nishi interchange on the Kochi-Tobu Expressway, or about 55 minutes from the Nankoku interchange on the Kochi Expressway.

Parking advice varies. Aki City says there is no visitor car park inside the district and directs drivers to the Mizonobe Park car park, about 3 minutes' walk to the south. The prefectural tourism site lists free parking at the Doi Community Hall.