Senzai Family Residence Main House

The Main House on the Horikawa Canal

The Senzai Family Residence Main House (千歳家住宅主屋) is a large merchant townhouse of 1869 in Awabashicho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, Kyoto Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on June 28, 2017 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The family name 千歳 is read Senzai here, not Chitose.

The Agency records a timber building, single-storey with a partial upper floor, roofed in tile, with a building area of 246 square metres; registration number 26-0522.

It is the street-side building of the Senzai estate, with an annex and two storehouses behind it.

A Street Front in Two Halves

The Senzai Family Residence Main House faces east onto the road along the west side of the Horikawa canal (濠川) (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The northern half of the front has a projecting lattice, or Degōshi; the southern half is clad in vertical funaita, boards of the kind once used in boats.

Above runs a low Tsushi-nikai upper floor, its plastered walls pierced by latticed windows. Inside, an earth-floored passage (Doma) two ken wide, about 3.6 metres, runs from the street to the back.

The raised floor is divided by a corridor: working rooms such as the chōba, the counting room, on one side and a row of formal Zashiki rooms on the other (Agency for Cultural Affairs). A single corridor separates trade from hospitality.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency notes the fine alcove fittings and joinery of the Senzai Family Residence Main House and describes it as a large townhouse that preserves the layout of a Fushimi merchant house; it was registered as a model of design.

Kyoto City likewise says the exterior keeps the bold design of an early Meiji townhouse and helps shape the canal-side townscape of Fushimi.

What to Look For

Stand in front of the Senzai Family Residence Main House and the change in the facade is the first thing you notice: lattice to the north, plank cladding to the south. Funaita generally means boards reused from boats.

Look up and the plastered upper storey with its latticed windows sits just above the low eaves (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The wide frontage matters too; Kyoto City introduces the house as a wide-fronted townhouse on the canal bank.

Visiting

No official information on interior access to the Senzai Family Residence Main House was found. Its front faces the road on the west side of the Horikawa, so the exterior can be seen from the street; please view it without entering the property.