Takizawa Family Residence (Kurama, Kyoto)

Kyoto's Oldest Known Through-Passage Town House

The Takizawa Family Residence (瀧澤家住宅) is a town house of 1760 on the Kurama Kaido road in Kurama Honmachi, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, and was designated an Important Cultural Property on June 23, 1975. It is said to have been the house of a charcoal wholesaler (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as 8.7 metres by 11.9 metres, partly two-storeyed, gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) with pantiles and a cedar-bark pent roof across the front. No owner is listed.

Kurama, a Depot for Firewood and Charcoal

According to Kyoto City's Kyoto Heritage guide, the Kurama Kaido, the road from Wakasa and Tanba to the capital past the gate of Kuramadera, thrived as a collecting point for firewood and charcoal, and the Takizawa house on the road is said to have belonged to a charcoal merchant.

Kuramadera, halfway up Mount Kurama, guarded the north of the Heian capital, and town houses lined the road below its gate (Kyoto City).

Why It Was Designated

The Takizawa Family Residence was designated an Important Cultural Property in 1975. According to the Agency, though small it is securely dated, and it is the oldest known town house in Kyoto City with a through-passage earth floor.

What to Look For

The Takizawa Family Residence is gabled with pantiles and partly two-storeyed, with a cedar-bark pent roof at the front (Agency for Cultural Affairs). An earth-floored passage runs from front to back.

Its secure date of 1760 makes it an important reference for the history of Kyoto town houses (Agency for Cultural Affairs). From the road you can see the front of a late Edo town house.

Visiting the Takizawa Family Residence

We found no official information on public access to the Takizawa Family Residence. Please view it only from the Kurama Kaido. The address is 445 Kurama Honmachi, Sakyo Ward, Kyoto.