Inaba Family Residence

About the Inaba Family Residence

The Inaba Family Residence (稲葉家住宅, Inaba-ke Jūtaku) in Kumihama, Kyotango City, Kyoto Prefecture, is the town house of a wealthy merchant family: its main house was completed in 1890, and together with a late Edo gate and north treasure house and a mid-Meiji south treasure house, four buildings were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2003. It is open to visitors under the name Gōshō Inaba Honke (豪商稲葉本家), "the Inaba merchant head house".

The property fills a broad plot in the middle of old Kumihama, facing Kyoto Prefectural Route 11. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the family held a large lot at the center of the town.

Kyotango City owns the Inaba Family Residence. Day-to-day operation is in the hands of a local nonprofit, the Wakuwaku suru Kumihama o Tsukuru Kai, which manages the site for the city.

From Koji Makers to Shipowners

A Kyotango City exhibition sheet describes the Inabas as rich Kumihama merchants since the Edo period, trading under the shop name Kōjiya, the koji house, with each head of the family taking the name Ichiroemon. According to the present operators, money made from koji, the mold culture behind sake, miso and soy sauce, carried the family into coastal shipping, and the trade made them rich enough to act as bankers to the surrounding feudal domains. The family is also said to descend from the Inaba clan of Mino province, a claim that belongs to family tradition.

The main house that stands today was built by Ichiroemon Hidehiro, the 12th head, who started work in 1885 and finished five years later in 1890. He also sat in the House of Representatives. His successor, the 13th Ichiroemon, is remembered for putting his own money into opening the Kumihama to Toyooka section of the old national railway Miyazu Line.

A bronze statue of the 13th head stands on the grounds of the Inaba Family Residence. The town and village council of Kumano District erected it in 1950, and the operators say the figure faces toward Inabayama Castle in Mino, the clan's old seat.

How the Estate Is Laid Out

The Inaba Family Residence meets the road along its south side, and the nagayamon gate opens onto that road. The main house is the center of the four registered buildings. On its east side two storehouses are joined to it by a corridor: the southern one is the South Treasure House, the northern one the North Treasure House.

Beyond these two inner storehouses the family also kept outer storehouses for money, rice and household goods. They are not part of the registration and now serve as exhibition rooms and workshops. Nor are the detached Ginshōsha pavilion, said to date from the Edo period, or the garden, which the operators say was reworked by the garden master Sano Tōemon XVI on the base of the old family garden.

Four Registrations, Three Periods

All four buildings of the Inaba Family Residence were registered on January 31, 2003, as register nos. 26-0142 (main house), 26-0143 (nagayamon gate), 26-0144 (south treasure house) and 26-0145 (north treasure house).

They were not built together. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates them as follows.

• Nagayamon gate: late Edo period (1830 to 1867)
• North Treasure House: late Edo period (1830 to 1867). Old drawings show it was moved when the main house was built
• Main house: 1890
• South Treasure House: mid-Meiji period, thought to have gone up at the same time as the main house

The main house was registered because it would not be easy to reproduce; the other three for their contribution to the historic landscape. The spread of dates tells the story of the rebuilding. The family kept its Edo gate and a storehouse, moved that storehouse, raised a large new house in the Meiji era and added a second storehouse beside the first.

Visiting and Getting There

The Inaba Family Residence opens as Gōshō Inaba Honke from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. It is closed on Wednesdays and over the New Year holidays. Entry is free, though visitors are asked for a contribution of 100 yen each toward upkeep. The interior of the main house can be visited, along with an exhibition in the treasure houses reached by the corridor.

The nearest station is Kumihama on the Kyoto Tango Railway Miyatoyo Line. The operators put it at about 7 minutes on foot, while a Kyoto Prefecture tourism leaflet says about 10 minutes. The usual route is to change from the JR San'in Line at Toyooka; the operators also point to the Hashidate limited express, which runs through to Kumihama via Fukuchiyama and Amanohashidate.

Drivers should note that Route 11 in front of the Inaba Family Residence is narrow. The operators ask visitors not to stop on it even briefly and to use the free municipal car park they direct people to instead.