The oldest building on the Yusa farmstead
The Yusa Family Residence Main House (遊佐家住宅主屋, Yusa-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a farmhouse in Ishinomori, Tome City, Miyagi Prefecture, built in the mid-Edo period and entered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 March 2006.
It is one of six buildings on the same farmstead registered that day, alongside a reception hall, two storehouses, a stable and a miso store. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to between 1661 and 1750, which makes it older than the rest by a wide margin. Two other buildings in Miyagi carry exactly the same registered name; both stand in Naruko Onsen, in the city of Ōsaki, and are separate entries.
The house is a single-storey timber building nine bays long and four deep, with a building area of 175 square metres. A bay, or Ken, is roughly 1.8 metres. Its hipped roof, in the Yosemune-zukuri form, is now clad in sheet steel. It sits in the northwest of a site that slopes down to the east, and faces east.
Why it was registered
Registered buildings are judged against three criteria. The Yusa Family Residence Main House was registered as a building that would be hard to reproduce, while the other five on the farmstead qualified for their contribution to the historic landscape.
The Agency's note points beyond age to the framing over the earthen floor. Beams chosen for their natural curve are, by their nature, hard to source and fit again in the same shape.
A staggered four-room plan and bent beams
The raised living rooms are grouped on the south side in a four-room plan (yomadori). The partitions between them do not meet in a clean cross; they are offset, a variant called kuichigai yomadori, which lets the four rooms differ in size.
The rest of the house is the Doma, the beaten-earth floor that in a farmhouse like this served as kitchen, workshop and store. Look up and the structure explains itself: from a heavy beam running under the ridge line, strongly curved timbers sweep down to the posts of the outer lean-to aisle. Using bent trunks in this way let the builders span a wide doma without interior posts.
From outside the Yusa Family Residence Main House reads as a long, low hipped roof over a single storey; the nine-bay length is what you notice first.
Visiting
The house stands on a private property. Neither the Agency for Cultural Affairs nor Tome City announces an interior opening, and the beams and room plan cannot be seen from outside. Photographs of the building are published in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database and on the Cultural Heritage Online portal.
Directions to the farmstead and the conditions that apply to the whole site are collected on the page for the farmstead as a group.
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- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Yusa Family Residence Main House
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Q&A
- When was the Yusa Family Residence Main House in Tome built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the mid-Edo period, between 1661 and 1750. It is the oldest of the six registered buildings on the farmstead.
- Can you go inside the Yusa Family Residence Main House in Tome?
- It is on private property, and no public opening or viewing arrangement has been announced. Photographs are published in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database and on the Cultural Heritage Online portal.
- What is the floor plan of the Yusa Family Residence Main House in Tome?
- Four raised living rooms on the south side, laid out in a staggered (kuichigai) four-room plan, with the rest of the house given over to an earthen-floored doma spanned by large curved beams.
- Is the Yusa Family Residence Main House in Tome the same as the one in Naruko Onsen?
- No. Two other main houses registered under the same name stand in Naruko Onsen, Ōsaki, in the Yōgai and Baba areas; they were registered in 1997 and 1998. The Tome house was registered in 2006.
- Why is the Yusa Family Residence Main House in Tome registered?
- It was registered as a building that would be hard to reproduce. Besides its mid-Edo date, the framing of curved beams over the earthen floor is singled out.
Basic Information
| Name | Yusa Family Residence Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 121 Ishinomori, Nakada, Tome City, Miyagi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2006/3/2 (Heisei 18) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 9 by 4 bays (ken), building area 175 square metres |
| Owner | Not listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (no open days or viewing arrangement announced) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: 遊佐家住宅主屋 (Yusa Family Residence Main House), Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005222
- Cultural Heritage Online: 遊佐家住宅主屋
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/189950
- List of Cultural Properties, Tome City Board of Education
- https://www.city.tome.miyagi.jp/bunkazai/kurashi/kosodate/kyoikuinkai/shakaikyoiku/bunkazai.html
Last verified: 2026.09.25
