Fujita Family Residence (Yokooji)

What Is the Fujita Family Residence in Yokooji?

The Fujita Family Residence (藤田家住宅, Fujita-ke Jūtaku) is an old family estate in Yokooji Kusatsu-cho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, whose main house and storehouse, both built in 1876, were entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 1998.

The estate lies on the left bank of the Katsura River, along an old highway, with the river levee directly behind it. Kyoto has a second registered Fujita Family Residence, a weaver's townhouse in Nishijin; the two belong to different families and have nothing to do with each other beyond the name.

A Rice Merchant at the River Port of Kusatsu

The Kyoto association of owners of registered cultural properties gives the family's background. During the Edo period the Fujitas dealt in rice supplied to the Imperial Palace, managed the laborers who worked the local landing, and served as headmen of Yokooji village.

That landing mattered. The Fujita Family Residence stands where the Katsura and Kamo rivers meet, and the owners' association describes this as a long-established river port. Larger boats came up from Osaka as far as Kusatsu; from here cargo moved onto smaller river boats or onto ox carts for the last stretch into Kyoto. Rice storehouses once lined the levee.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs makes the same point in its own way, noting that the house lot once opened onto the Katsura River. A family that handled rice needed both the water and the road, and the estate sits squarely between them.

The Main House and the Storehouse

Both buildings of the Fujita Family Residence were registered on December 11, 1998, as numbers 26-0032 and 26-0033, on the grounds that they contribute to the historic landscape of the country.

• Main House: 1876. Wooden, single story, tiled roof, building area of 191 square meters.
• Storehouse: 1876. Dozo-zukuri construction, two stories, tiled roof, 25 square meters.

Think of the estate as having two fronts. The main house addresses the highway, set back a little from it; the storehouse is best read from the levee, where, in the words of the national record, the two buildings together present a traditional homestead. The record also remarks that the main house's orderly exterior is well liked locally.

Visiting and Getting There

The Fujita Family Residence is a private home and is not open to the public. The owners' association lists it as closed to visitors. There are no opening hours or admission fees, and neither the grounds nor the interiors can be entered.

The exteriors can be seen from the road on the highway side and from the levee. Please keep to public ground when looking or taking photographs.

The nearest rail station is Chushojima on the Keihan Main Line. On the map the walk is about 2.7 kilometers, roughly 40 minutes. We could not confirm any parking.