What is the Yamanaka Family Residence Main House?
The Yamanaka Family Residence Main House (山中家住宅主屋, Yamanaka-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is the late Edo-period main building of a merchant townhouse on the old Hase Kaido road in Honmachi, Nabari City, Mie Prefecture, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Registered Tangible Cultural Property) on September 10, 2019. It is a timber building, single-storied with a partial upper floor, roofed in tile, and covers a building area of 209 square meters.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the late Edo period (1830 to 1868) and records a renovation in 1984. A ridge-end tile (Onigawara) on the north wing bears the date Kaei 6, which is 1853, so the house was standing by the middle of the nineteenth century at the latest. The agency's note describes the property as a former inn, a townhouse that once put up travelers on the road.
Two wings, two roofs
The Yamanaka Family Residence Main House faces east onto the road and is made up of two wings set side by side, north and south. The north wing has a plain gabled roof (Kirizuma-zukuri); the south wing has a hip-and-gable roof (Irimoya-zukuri). From the street you can see the roofline change shape halfway along the front. Each wing has its own entrance.
Both wings are built with a Tsushi-nikai, a low loft tucked under the roof rather than a full second storey. A pent roof (Geya) projects over the ground floor, and above it the wall is coated in white plaster (Shikkui) right up into the underside of the eaves, with no timber left showing. That sealed white upper wall is the first thing most people notice on this front.
Inside, according to the agency, each wing has three rooms in a line running back from the street, with a formal reception room (Zashiki) at the rear. The north wing also has an earth-floored passage (Doma) along its south side that runs from the road through to the back. The local newspaper reported that the north wing was the family's living space and the south wing was given over to paying guests.
Why it was registered
The Yamanaka Family Residence Main House was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The agency's note calls it a townhouse that conveys the streetscape of an Edo-period post town.
That judgment rests on the street front: the paired gabled and hip-and-gable roofs, the white plastered loft storey and the pent roof below combine into a single facade that keeps something of the old post-town look on the Hase Kaido. A member of the Nabari city cultural properties survey team who examined the building told the newspaper that it was a large townhouse that kept the feel of the Edo period well and was in very good condition.
An early Meiji-era drawing reportedly shows another wing joined on to the south. The two wings standing today are therefore part of a street front that was once even longer.
Seeing the Yamanaka Family Residence Main House
The front of the Yamanaka Family Residence Main House can be viewed from the public road. Stand where the north and south wings meet to see the change in roof shape and the plastered upper wall together. The Kaei 6 inscription is cut into the side of the ridge-end tile and is hard to make out from the ground.
The interior now serves as the guest accommodation of kyucho hotel, a house rented to one party at a time that opened in 2026, so only overnight guests can go inside; the carved transoms and snow-viewing shoji screens in its tatami rooms are seen only by them. Please take photographs from the road and keep clear of the doorways and passing traffic.
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Q&A
- When was the Yamanaka Family Residence Main House built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the late Edo period (1830 to 1868). A ridge-end tile on the north wing carries the date Kaei 6 (1853), so it was standing by then at the latest. It was renovated in 1984.
- When did the Yamanaka Family Residence Main House become a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- On September 10, 2019, the same day as the annex and the two storehouses. It was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country.
- How do the two wings of the Yamanaka Family Residence Main House differ?
- Mainly in their roofs: the north wing is gabled and the south wing is hip-and-gable. Both have a low loft storey and three rooms in a row with a reception room at the back, and the north wing has an earth-floored passage along its south side. The local newspaper says the north wing housed the family and the south wing took in guests.
- Can visitors go inside the Yamanaka Family Residence Main House?
- Not as sightseers. Since 2026 the house has been run as kyucho hotel, rented to one party at a time, and only overnight guests can enter. The street front can be seen from the Hase Kaido at any time.
- What should I look for on the front of the Yamanaka Family Residence Main House?
- The point where the gabled roof of the north wing gives way to the hip-and-gable roof of the south wing, and the loft-storey wall above the pent roof, plastered white all the way into the eaves.
Basic Information
| Name | Yamanaka Family Residence Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 200 Honmachi, Nabari City, Mie Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered September 10, 2019 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, single-storied with partial 2nd floor, tiled roof, building area 209 m² |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Interior for kyucho hotel guests only; exterior visible from the public road |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Yamanaka Family Residence Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012934
- Cultural Heritage Online: Yamanaka Family Residence Main House (Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/413635
- Nabari City: List of Designated Cultural Properties, as of May 27, 2025 (Japanese, PDF)
- https://www.city.nabari.lg.jp/s061/010/020/000/030/R7shiteibunnkazaiitirann64.pdf
- Iga Town Joho YOU: Yamanaka Family Residence in Honmachi, Nabari, to Be Registered (March 19, 2019, Japanese)
- https://www.iga-younet.co.jp/2019/03/19/13532/
- Iga Town Joho YOU: Kyucho Hotel Opens in a Registered House in Honmachi, Nabari (May 8, 2026, Japanese)
- https://www.iga-younet.co.jp/2026/05/08/114510/
Last verified: 2026.10.02
