A Retirement Annex with a Sukiya Tea Room
The Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex (長井家住宅（梅屋）離れ) is a house of around 1932 in Higashinagashima, Kihoku-cho, Mie Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on June 24, 2021. It stands west of the Main House and is joined to it by a passage. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as an inkyo-ya, a retirement house for the senior generation, with well-appointed living space.
The core is a two-story timber building with a hipped roof (Yosemune-zukuri) of pantiles. On the ground floor, an eight-mat formal room occupies the southwest corner with a six-mat anteroom to its east. The single-story wing on the east was added in 1969 as a combined living, dining and kitchen space, opened broadly to the south. Overall the Annex is a single-story building with a 2-story section, covering 129 square meters.
Why It Was Registered: the Upstairs Tea Room
The Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex was registered for contributing to the historic landscape. Its highlight is the upstairs tea room (Chashitsu), finished in the relaxed sukiya manner: round posts, and a nageshi rail made of timber that keeps traces of the bark along its edges.
Sources disagree on the room's size. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database gives eight mats, while the council's March 2021 report gives six. This article has not been able to confirm which matches the room today.
Building a sukiya annex beside the main house in the early Showa years shows a forestry family with the means for rooms devoted to taste rather than work. The 1969 wing was registered as well, so the Annex also records how the family adapted it to postwar living.
What to Look For
The round posts and bark-edged rail of the tea room are the heart of the building. Their natural curves play against the square posts and heavy beams of the Main House, so two ideas of refinement sit side by side within one compound.
From outside, the interest lies in how the hipped two-story core meets the low 1969 wing stretching east: two building campaigns nearly 40 years apart, gathered under one roofline.
Visiting
The Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex lies deep inside the compound, west of the Main House and south of the West Storehouse, and it is not open to visitors. It cannot be seen directly from the road, so expect to see little or nothing of it.
For viewing conditions across the estate and directions from the station, see the Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) page.
Q&A
- When was the Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex built?
- Around 1932. The single-story wing on the east side was added in 1969.
- How big is the tea room in the Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex?
- Sources differ: the Agency for Cultural Affairs database says eight tatami mats, while the 2021 council report says six.
- Can you visit the Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex?
- No. The interior is closed, and the building sits deep in the compound where it cannot be seen from the road.
- What kind of building is the Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex?
- A retirement house west of the Main House: a two-story timber building with a hipped pantile roof and a sukiya-style tea room upstairs.
- What is the floor area of the Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex?
- It is a single-story building with a 2-story section and a building area of 129 square meters.
Basic Information
| Name | Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex |
|---|---|
| Location | 2496-3 Yobisaki, Higashinagashima, Kihoku-cho, Kitamuro-gun, Mie Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2021/6/24 (Reiwa 3) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single-story with a 2-story section, tiled roof, building area 129 square meters |
| Owner | Not published (not listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (no interior opening announced) |
References
- Cultural Heritage Database (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Nagai Family Residence (Umeya) Annex
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013814
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Council for Cultural Affairs report on new registrations, March 19, 2021 (Japanese)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/pdf/93206101_04.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.26
