Kumagai Family Residence Main House

A Kimono Merchant's House of about 1924

The Kumagai Family Residence Main House (熊谷家住宅主屋) is the home of a kimono-fabric merchant, with no earth-floored area and Western rooms on both floors, strongly modern in character of around 1924 in Bandoyacho, Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on November 29, 2016 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 186 square metres; registration number 26-0511.

A Merchant's Home with Western Rooms

The main house of the Kumagai residence, of around 1924, is the home of a kimono-fabric merchant facing east onto Muromachi-dori in Shimogyo Ward, Kyoto (Agency for Cultural Affairs). On a plot 12 metres wide, a corridor runs east-west through the middle, with reception rooms to the north and the kitchen, or daidoko, to the south.

There is no earth-floored area inside, and both floors have Western-style rooms at the front, with fine finishes in Japanese and Western rooms alike. Set behind a wall in the manner of the ohei-zukuri style, it is a house with a strong modern character (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered it as a model of design.

What to Look For

At the main house, look for the Western rooms at the front of both floors and the fine finishes of its Japanese and Western rooms (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

The owner of the Kumagai residence is not listed in the Agency record. It is a private house, and no official information on public access was found. The main house and the gate and wall are introduced together on the Kumagai Family Residence (Shimogyo, Kyoto) page.