Fujita Family Residence (Nishijin)

What Is the Fujita Family Residence in Nishijin?

The Fujita Family Residence (藤田家住宅, Fujita-ke Jūtaku) is a weaving family's Machiya townhouse in Yamana-cho, Kamigyo Ward, Kyoto, built around a main house of the early Meiji period (1868 to 1882), with a tea room, storehouse, gate and fence completed by about 1935; all four were entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2015.

The address carries a piece of medieval history. Yamana-cho is said to be the site of the mansion of Yamana Sōzen, who led the Western Army in the Ōnin War (1467 to 1477), and the conflict is the reason this district came to be called Nishijin, the "Western Camp." When the fighting ended, weavers drifted back, and the neighborhood became Kyoto's great silk-weaving quarter.

The Fujitas were textile manufacturers. According to the family, between the Taisho era and the early Showa years they ran one of the larger loom operations in Nishijin. The house they left behind is really two houses joined at the hip.

Four Registered Structures and Their Dates

All four parts of the Fujita Family Residence were registered on March 26, 2015, under consecutive numbers 26-0466 to 26-0469. The criterion cited for each is that it contributes to the historic landscape of the country.

• Main House: early Meiji (1868 to 1882), remodeled in 1935. Wooden, two stories with a partial third, tiled roof, building area of 280 square meters.
• Tea Room Yoshin: around 1935. Wooden, single story, tile roof with some sheet metal, 18 square meters.
• Storehouse: early Meiji (1868 to 1882). Dozo-zukuri construction, two stories, tiled roof, 14 square meters.
• Gate and Fence: around 1935. A wooden gate 1.6 meters wide and a wooden fence running 6.0 meters in total.

The dating of the main house hides a longer story. The family believes the east wing may go back to the Edo period, with its street front reworked between late Meiji and Taisho. The west wing was a new build: a carpenter spent more than two years on it from 1933, which lines up with the 1935 remodeling date in the national record.

How the Estate Is Laid Out

From the street the Fujita Family Residence shows two faces. On the east, a wide frontage of about 10 meters carries Mushiko-mado slatted windows and wooden lattices, the classic look of a Kyoto merchant house. On the west, a narrower wing sits back behind a gate and a fence that run out from the corner of the east wing and enclose a small forecourt.

Behind the buildings is a garden. The Tea Room Yoshin stands across it to the northwest of the main house, and at the far end the storehouse faces south beside the tea room. None of this can be seen from the street; it was arranged to be looked at from the reception rooms.

The west wing was built to the taste of Kitagawa Heihachi, father-in-law of the head of the house at the time and father of the court-textile weaver Kitagawa Heirō. Small touches give away the family trade: the pulls on some cupboard doors are shaped like the shuttle that carries the weft thread across a loom.

In 2019 the living quarters in the east wing were refitted so the family could rent them out to one party a night, a way of paying for the upkeep of a very large wooden house. The registered exteriors were left as they were.

Visiting and Getting There

The interior of the Fujita Family Residence can be seen only on a reserved tour. Groups of four to ten are accepted, and the fee is 10,000 yen per person including tax. The head of the family leads the visit, which lasts about 80 minutes and includes tea and a sweet. Closing days are irregular, so check the booking calendar on the official website first, then apply by phone, fax or the online form; the phone line is staffed from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The family notes that the fee may change without notice.

Visitors are asked to keep bags away from walls and sliding doors, not to step onto the tokonoma alcove, and to avoid treading on mat edges and door sills. Socks are preferred to bare feet. The website says nothing about photography indoors, so ask when you book.

Without a booking you can still see the east wing's slatted windows and lattices and the west wing's gate and fence from the street. It is a family home, so please look from the public road.

The house is about a 10-minute walk west of Imadegawa Station on the Karasuma subway line, or 2 minutes from the Horikawa Imadegawa city bus stop. There is no parking.