Eto Family Residence Main House (Onoue, Ozu)

A Village Farmhouse in Ozu

The Eto Family Residence Main House (江藤家住宅主屋) is a single-storey timber farmhouse of the late Edo period at Onoue, Machi, Ozu Town, Kikuchi District, Kumamoto Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on December 5, 2019. It is the main house of a family of zaigokenin rank in a farming village of Ozu (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a single-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 305 square metres; registration number 43-0177, with no owner listed.

Not the Eto Residence Designated in 2005

Ozu also has a different Eto Family Residence at Jinnai, designated an Important Cultural Property in 2005. According to Ozu Town, that one is the compound of a zaigokenin family centred on a main house of 1830 with a gatehouse and storehouses.

This Eto Family Residence Main House at Onoue, Machi, is a registered property and a separate building at a different address (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Ozu Town). Zaigokenin were rural samurai serving the Kumamoto domain, and houses of that rank are scattered around Ozu (Ozu Town).

Why It Was Registered

The Eto Family Residence Main House was registered as a building that has become a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes its distinctive plan, with two projecting wings linked by an intermediate room, as conveying the character of early modern farmhouses in the district.

What to Look For

The Eto Family Residence Main House stands at the centre of its plot facing south, a single-storey building with a large hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) pantile roof from whose west side two wings project side by side (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The two wings are joined by an "ai-no-ma" linking room, the defining feature of its plan (Agency for Cultural Affairs). From outside, the wings show as parallel roofs projecting from the main roof.

Visiting the Eto Family Residence Main House

We found no official information on public access to the Eto Family Residence Main House. As it appears to be a private house, please view it only from the road. The address is 169 Onoue, Machi, Ozu Town.