Miyazawa Family Residence Detached Wing

About the Miyazawa Family Residence Detached Wing

The Miyazawa Family Residence Detached Wing (宮澤家住宅はなれ, Miyazawa-ke Jūtaku Hanare) is a single-story building of around 1935 in Misato Akemori, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 1998. It is built of timber with part in Dozo-zukuri fireproof storehouse construction, under a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pan tiles, with a building area of 75 square meters.

The detached wing stands on the west side of the lot, with the 1885 storehouse just to its north. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records that it went up before the main house and, once the main house was finished in 1936, was used as a detached wing, a hanare, set apart from the family's main living space.

A Timber Face and a Storehouse Face

What makes the Miyazawa Detached Wing interesting is that it wears a different face on each side. Toward the main house it shows its timber frame, the posts and beams left visible as in a normal dwelling.

The back is another matter. There the frame is buried in thick Ōkabe walls finished in white Shikkui lime plaster, so the building looks like a storehouse. The lower walls are faced in namako-kabe, square tiles with raised white plaster joints, matching the storehouse beside it. The black-and-white grid carries a long way.

Seen from within the estate, the Miyazawa Family Residence Detached Wing reads as an extension of the living rooms; seen from outside, it joins the line of storehouses. One building does two jobs.

Why the Detached Wing Was Registered

The Miyazawa Family Residence Detached Wing was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. By matching the namako-kabe of the Meiji storehouse, a 1930s building joins the older one in a single consistent run along the west and north of the estate.

The order of construction is also telling. No published source describes how the wing was used while the main house was being rebuilt, but the Agency's note makes clear that it took on the role of a detached wing only after the new house was complete.

Seeing the Miyazawa Detached Wing

The Miyazawa Detached Wing is on private property, and no official information about opening its interior could be found as of September 2026. No guidance on photography was found either.

Its most striking feature, the namako-kabe, is on the back wall, the side facing away from the main house. Look at it together with the storehouse to the north, as far as it can be seen from outside, without stepping onto the property.