Kitamura Family Residence Main House

The Main House of the Kitamura Family

The Kitamura Family Residence Main House (北村家住宅主屋) is a family house of 1887 in Wakaho Kawada, Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 2, 2004 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a two-storey timber house with a tiled roof and a building area of 216 square metres; registration number 20-0172.

A House of 1887, Dated by Its Ridge Tag

The Kitamura Family Residence Main House stands at the heart of the former Kawada-juku post town, a two-storey timber house with a gabled roof of interlocking pan tiles (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Its front faces north, toward the old post-town street.

A ridge tag (munafuda) names the builder: according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the house was the work of a local carpenter, Nakajo Toyokichi (中條豊吉). The upper floor was originally used for raising silkworms and has recently been converted into living rooms.

Why It Was Registered

The Kitamura Family Residence Main House was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country (Agency for Cultural Affairs), which describes it as a survival of the Meiji-era post-town scene.

On May 1, 2008, Nagano City also named the Kitamura Residence, including the main house and the row gate, Landscape Important Building No. 5. The city dates the main house to 1887 and the row gate to the middle of the Meiji era.

A Tradition of Timbers from Obuse

Nagano City notes a family tradition that part of the Kitamura Family Residence Main House was brought from a sake shop in Obuse when that building was demolished in the Meiji 20s, the decade from 1887, and that hardly any nails were used in its frame.

The tradition does not contradict the ridge tag. Reusing timbers from a dismantled building under a new carpenter was common practice. No published survey identifies which members came from Obuse, so the story is given here as a tradition only.

What to Look For

The Kitamura Family Residence Main House sits back from the street behind the gate and the former post office building. From outside, look at the gable end and at the height of the upper floor: lofts built for silkworms were often given generous headroom.

It is worth noticing how the tiled roof and two-storey bulk of the house combine with the fireproof storehouse walls of the gate range along the street.

Visiting

The Kitamura Family Residence is a private home, and no official information on access to the grounds or interiors was found. Plan to view it from the street, keeping clear of the doorway and of passing traffic.