What Is the Katakura Family Residence Main House?
The Katakura Family Residence Main House (片倉家住宅主屋, Katakura-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a thatched, single-storey timber farmhouse built in the mid-18th century in Kawagishikami, Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture; it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 8 July 1999. It covers 215 square meters.
It is the oldest of the five registered buildings of the Katakura homestead, and the four storehouses stand to its west and southeast. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the Katakura Family Residence Main House is also known as the home of Katakura Kanetarō, a leading figure in Japan's machine silk-reeling industry.
Work in Front, Living at the Back
According to the agency, the original plan of the house put the earthen-floored Doma and the kitchen in the front half of the building and gathered the living rooms along the back. The agency calls this layout unusual.
In most Edo-period farmhouses the doma and the raised, floored rooms sit side by side as you face the entrance. Here the division runs front to back instead. You would step in onto a broad earth floor with the kitchen, and the tatami rooms lie beyond it.
The plan puts the working and cooking spaces on the public side and pulls the family rooms to the rear, a sensible arrangement for a farm household with people and produce coming and going all day.
The house was altered and extended at the end of the Edo period and again in the Meiji era. Published sources do not say which rooms changed when.
A Big Thatched Roof by the Tenryu
The Katakura Family Residence Main House is roofed in Kayabuki thatch. On a single-storey house of 215 square meters, the roof dominates the building and rises far above the walls.
The registration criterion was its contribution to the historic landscape. An 18th-century thatched farmhouse and its Meiji and Showa storehouses survive together on one lot in the Kawagishi district, near the outflow of the Tenryu River from Lake Suwa.
This is not a mansion built on silk money. It is the farmhouse the family already had, altered in the late Edo and Meiji periods and lived in through the years when the Katakura business grew, and that is what makes it worth knowing.
Visiting the Katakura Family Residence Main House
The Katakura Family Residence Main House belongs to Katakura Industries and is not open to the public. The grounds are closed, so the interior plan cannot be seen.
The house stands in the middle of the lot. View it only from the public road and do not enter the property. Directions and the site layout are on the Katakura Family Residence page.
Q&A
- When was the Katakura Family Residence Main House built?
- In the mid-18th century. It was altered and extended in the late Edo and Meiji periods.
- What is unusual about the plan of the Katakura Family Residence Main House?
- The earthen-floored work area and kitchen fill the front half, and the living rooms are gathered at the back.
- Who lived in the Katakura Family Residence Main House?
- The Katakura family. It is also known as the home of Katakura Kanetarō of the Katakura silk business. Katakura Industries owns it today.
- When did the Katakura Family Residence Main House become a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- On 8 July 1999, as registration no. 20-0014, for its contribution to the historic landscape.
- Can I go inside the Katakura Family Residence Main House?
- No. It is private and closed to visitors, and the grounds cannot be entered. Please view it from the public road.
Basic Information
| Name | Katakura Family Residence Main House (片倉家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1-21-6 Kawagishikami, Okaya City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 20-0014 |
| Year Designated | Registered 8 July 1999 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber building, thatched roof, building area 215 square meters |
| Owner | Katakura Industries Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not open to the public |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Katakura Family Residence Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001188
- List of Cultural Properties (Okaya City, PDF, Japanese)
- https://www.city.okaya.lg.jp/material/files/group/26/10297.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.27
