Former Hosokawa Family Residence

The Former Hosokawa Family Residence

The Former Hosokawa Family Residence (旧細川家住宅, Kyū Hosokawa-ke Jūtaku) at 136 Shinmachi, Nabari City, Mie Prefecture, is an early Meiji-period merchant house whose main house, gate and two storehouses were entered on Japan's list of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on January 8, 2009.

Nabari City owns the property and has run it as a visitor and community center under the name Yanase-shuku (やなせ宿). The plot is long and narrow, about 990 square meters. Its north edge fronts the Hase Kaidō (初瀬街道), the old road between Hasedera Temple in Nara and the Ise Grand Shrine, and its south edge meets a city street along the Nabari River.

The buildings line up between road and river. The main house faces the highway, with the gate at its east end. Behind it is a courtyard, then the middle storehouse, and last, nearest the river, the riverside storehouse. Walk the plot back from the street and you move from the family's public face to the places where goods were locked away.

Nabari prospered in the Edo period as a post town on the Hase Kaidō, a route used by pilgrims heading to Ise. The Former Hosokawa Family Residence still presents a townhouse facade to that road.

A Nabari Branch of an Ōuda Medicine Merchant

According to Nabari City, the Hosokawa family were medicine merchants based in Ōuda, now part of Uda City in Nara Prefecture, and built the Nabari house as a branch between the late Edo period and the first years of Meiji. The family's main house in Ōuda is open to visitors as a local history museum run by Uda City. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database is more cautious and dates all four registered structures to the early Meiji period.

The second head of the Hosokawa family used the Nabari house as a second home. His second daughter, Matsu, married into a Nabari shop called Yorozuya, and her eldest son was Fujisawa Tomokichi. Tomokichi later opened Fujisawa Shoten in Osaka and began making and selling camphor under the Fujisawa name. The firm became Fujisawa Pharmaceutical and, after merging with Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical in 2005, part of today's Astellas Pharma.

The city says Tomokichi lived in Nabari for nine years before he was sent to Osaka as an apprentice, and that he seems to have visited his grandfather's house often. Locally, the Former Hosokawa Family Residence is remembered as a place from the childhood of a pharmaceutical founder.

Four Registered Structures

All four structures of the Former Hosokawa Family Residence were registered together in the 62nd round of registrations on January 8, 2009, with official notice on January 22. They carry the consecutive registration numbers 24-0074 to 24-0077. The Agency for Cultural Affairs lists them as follows.

• Main House: wooden, 2 stories, tiled roof, building area 119 square meters. Registered as a model of design
• Gate: wooden, tiled roof, 3.2 meters wide. Registered as a model of design
• Middle Storehouse: clay-walled storehouse, single story, tiled roof, building area 23 square meters. Registered for its contribution to the historic landscape
• Riverside Storehouse: clay-walled storehouse, 2 stories, sheet-metal roof, building area 21 square meters. Registered for its contribution to the historic landscape

Each entry also records a renovation in 2008, when Nabari City restored the property as a base for conserving the old townscape. A kitchen building and a toilet block stand on the same plot, but neither is part of the registration.

Life as Yanase-shuku

Nabari City restored the Former Hosokawa Family Residence under its plan to revive the old town center and opened it as Yanase-shuku. The rooms were rented out for classes, exhibitions and meetings. A rotating cast of local cooks served lunch as "one-day chefs," and there was a retro coffee shop, a corner selling old-fashioned sweets, and a bicycle rental desk for people exploring the town on foot or by bike.

The river behind the plot became part of the program. The volunteer council that ran the center organized events such as watching aquatic life with river rangers and releasing young sweetfish with local kindergarten children. That work earned a Tezukuri Furusato Award from the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, presented in February 2013.

On April 1, 2026, the center closed for renovation for up to one year. Nabari City has chosen a new operator through public tender, and the tender documents set a target of starting the new business by April 2027. The winning proposal includes adding rooms where guests can stay overnight in the townhouse.

Visiting and Getting There

The Former Hosokawa Family Residence has been closed for renovation since April 1, 2026, so neither the buildings nor the courtyard can be entered. Nabari City says it will announce the reopening on its website.

The front of the main house and the gate at its east end can still be seen from the Hase Kaidō. The middle storehouse sits behind the courtyard and is almost impossible to see from outside. The riverside storehouse stands toward the south end of the plot, facing the street along the Nabari River. Please take photos from the public road and keep clear of passing traffic.

Before the closure, Yanase-shuku was open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed on Mondays and over the New Year holidays, and admission was free. Hours and conditions may change after the reopening, so check before you go.

The nearest station is Nabari on the Kintetsu Osaka Line. The walk to the Former Hosokawa Family Residence takes about 14 minutes and covers roughly 1 kilometer, heading west through the old town until you reach the Hase Kaidō. On-site parking is limited to a few cars.