A Police Station Built in 1888, Still Standing in Iga
Kitaizumi House Main Building (北泉家住宅主屋, Kitaizumi-ke Jūtaku Shuoku), formerly the Ueno Police Station (旧上野警察署庁舎, Kyū-Ueno Keisatsusho Chōsha), is a single-storey timber building of 1888 at Marunouchi in the Ueno district of Iga City, Mie Prefecture, added to Japan's national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 12 December 1997.
The building has a footprint of 130 square metres under a tiled hipped roof, or yosemune-zukuri, in which all four sides slope down from a short ridge. Over the entrance the roof changes character completely: a small gable, kirizuma, projects forward and announces the door. That contrast between a calm hipped mass and one sharply pointed accent is the whole design argument of the façade.
Look along the wall and the windows are tall and narrow, hung as double-hung sashes rather than sliding paper screens. Each one carries its own miniature eaves hood, a detail rarely seen elsewhere. The corner posts and several other structural members were painted, which in 1888 read as unmistakably foreign. Japanese architectural historians call this manner giyōfū, literally "imitation Western style": carpenters trained in traditional joinery working from prints and hearsay about European public buildings, producing something that belongs to neither tradition and is now valued precisely for that.
It did not begin on this site. The police station originally stood at Higashi-Ōte, the eastern gate area inside Ueno Castle, and was moved to Marunouchi in 1938.
Why It Was Registered, and What Registration Means
Japan runs two parallel systems for built heritage, and the difference matters for anyone reading a plaque. Important Cultural Properties (jūyō bunkazai) and National Treasures (kokuhō) are designated: the state selects them, restricts what an owner may do, and pays for much of the repair work. Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (tōroku yūkei bunkazai) sit under a lighter framework introduced in 1996 for buildings roughly fifty years old or more. Owners notify the authorities before altering the exterior in a significant way and otherwise keep considerable freedom, including freedom to run a business inside.
Kitaizumi House was registered under the first of the three statutory criteria, "a model of design quality." The Agency for Cultural Affairs record explains the reason in a single clause: this building is said to have set the pattern for police station offices across Mie Prefecture. A small county town produced the template, and other towns followed it.
The registration number is 24-0014, the fourteenth entry for Mie, from the seventh national round. The scheme had existed barely a year and a half. Whoever put this building forward in 1997 recognised early what a great deal of Meiji public architecture had already lost by then, which is most of it.
The lighter regime also explains what happened next. A designated property could not easily have been converted into a private home in 1938, nor into a gallery in 2026. Registration is the legal instrument that lets a building keep earning its keep.
Visiting: The Building Reopened as a Ceramics Gallery in 2026
For most of the postwar period this was simply somebody's house, viewable only from the pavement, and the older tourist listings still describe it that way. That changed on 13 April 2026, when the building reopened as Iga Ceramic Art Hall "Marunouchi Club" (伊賀陶芸館「丸之内倶楽部」). A ceramicist based in Iga had noticed that the region, which has fired pots since the Kamakura period, had no permanent showroom for its living makers, and approached the owner. The house had stood empty for roughly a decade. Interior walls were repaired, rooms opened into one another to make hanging space, the kitchen turned into a small tearoom kitchen, and the exterior repainted.
Inside, work by around fifteen Iga potters is shown, and pieces may be bought. Admission is free. Opening hours are 11:00 to 17:00, closed Wednesdays and Thursdays. Because the gallery is young and independently run, confirm before travelling; the Iga City Board of Education's cultural properties section (0595-47-1285) can also help.
Photography of the exterior from the public street is unrestricted. Inside, the displays are saleable artworks, so follow whatever the staff ask on the day.
Getting there is easy. Nishi-Ōte Station on the Iga Railway is about one minute on foot, roughly 65 metres. From Ueno-shi Station, the hub for Iga tourism, it is a short walk of well under ten minutes. That puts the building at the edge of the Ueno Castle park, within a few minutes of the reconstructed castle keep, the Iga-ryū Ninja Museum and the Bashō Memorial Museum, so it slots into an existing itinerary rather than demanding a detour.
One practical note on the name. Signage and maps may say Kitaizumi House, Kyū-Ueno Keisatsusho, or Marunouchi Club, depending on when they were made. All three refer to this single building.
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Q&A
- Can visitors go inside Kitaizumi House Main Building (Former Ueno Police Station)?
- Yes, since 13 April 2026. The building reopened as the ceramics gallery Marunouchi Club, with free admission from 11:00 to 17:00, closed Wednesdays and Thursdays. Before that date it was a private residence and could only be seen from outside, which is why some guidebooks and websites still say the interior is closed.
- How do I get to Kitaizumi House Main Building (Former Ueno Police Station)?
- The address is 1-2 Marunouchi, Ueno, Iga City, Mie Prefecture. Nishi-Ōte Station on the Iga Railway is about one minute away on foot. Ueno-shi Station, where most visitors to Iga arrive, is a walk of under ten minutes. Drivers can use the paid car parks serving Ueno Park.
- Why is Kitaizumi House Main Building also called the Former Ueno Police Station?
- It was built in 1888 as the police station office for Ueno, then stood inside the castle grounds at Higashi-Ōte. It was relocated to its present site in 1938 and afterwards served as the Kitaizumi family home, which is the name under which it was registered. Both names describe the same structure.
- Is Kitaizumi House Main Building a National Treasure or an Important Cultural Property?
- Neither. It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, a separate and lighter category created in 1996. Registration recognises heritage value and asks owners to notify the authorities before major exterior changes, but it does not carry the strict controls or the state repair funding attached to designation as an Important Cultural Property or National Treasure.
- What should I look for at Kitaizumi House Main Building (Former Ueno Police Station)?
- Three details repay attention: the small gabled roof set over the entrance against the broad hipped roof behind it, the tall double-hung sash windows each fitted with its own little eaves hood, and the painted corner posts. Together they show how a local carpenter in 1888 assembled an idea of Western officialdom from Japanese materials and techniques.
Basic Information
| Name | Kitaizumi House Main Building (Former Ueno Police Station) / 北泉家住宅主屋（旧上野警察署庁舎） |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-2 Marunouchi, Ueno, Iga City, Mie Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure); registration no. 24-0014; criterion: a model of design quality |
| Year Designated | Registered 12 December 1997; gazetted 8 January 1998 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber structure, tiled roof, building area 130 m²; built 1888 (Meiji 21), relocated 1938 |
| Owner | Private (no owner recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Open as Iga Ceramic Art Hall "Marunouchi Club" since 13 April 2026. Free admission, 11:00–17:00, closed Wednesdays and Thursdays. Confirm in advance, as hours may change. |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Kitaizumi House Main Building (Former Ueno Police Station)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00000412
- Cultural Heritage Online — Kitaizumi House Main Building (Former Ueno Police Station)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/165722
- Kanko Mie (Mie Prefecture Tourism Federation) — Kitaizumi House Main Building
- https://www.kankomie.or.jp/spot/3090
- Iga Town Information YOU — report on the opening of Marunouchi Club, 26 April 2026
- https://www.iga-younet.co.jp/2026/04/26/114105/
Last verified: 2026.08.10