A Rearing House With a Full-Length Ventilation Roof
The Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room is a two-story timber rearing house built in the middle Meiji years at the south end of a silkworm-egg producer's estate in Kamishiojiri, Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 24, 2021. In Japanese it is 佐藤家住宅（三ツ引）蚕室, Satō-ke Jūtaku (Mitsubiki) Sanshitsu; a sanshitsu is a room or building for raising silkworms.
The building runs long from east to west under a gabled tile roof, and a raised ventilation roof, a koshi-yane, rides the entire length of the ridge. At 118 square meters it is the second-largest building on the estate after the main house. It dates from mid-Meiji, between about 1883 and 1897.
According to Ueda City, the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room was built new as the egg trade boomed between late Edo and Meiji, and it forms part of the estate pictured in a book of copperplate views published in 1897.
Why It Was Registered
The registration criterion is contribution to the historic landscape of the country. Built from scratch for the single purpose of raising silkworms, the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room shows more plainly than any other building here what the expanding egg trade did to the estate.
The upper floor is three wood-floored rooms, each with windows on both the north and south walls. Combined with the full-length ventilation roof, the layout was designed to move air through the rooms and hold temperature and humidity steady. Silkworms do badly in heat and stuffy air, and the success of a season's rearing depended heavily on managing the air in these rooms.
Ueda City notes that the estate came to have nine rearing rooms in all. The three on the upper floor of the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room, together with two above the Storage Shed and one above the Disinfection Room, formed the core of them.
What to Look For
Two doorways open on the north side of the ground floor, which is divided into two earth-floored rooms. The long walls are plastered up under the eaves and finished at the middle coat, while both gable ends, east and west, are finished in white Shikkui lime plaster.
From the south side, which serves as the front, the slim ventilation roof runs unbroken along the top of the long two-story block. The south-facing photograph in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database shows the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room this way, with the contrast between earthen walls and white gables sharpening its outline.
Visiting the Silkworm Room
The Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room stands at the south end of a private estate and is not open to the public. We could not confirm how much of it can be seen from outside the property, and we found no published guidance on photography.
Directions to the estate and the story of the whole compound are on the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) page.
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Q&A
- Can you visit the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room?
- No. It stands inside a private estate and is not open to the public, and there is no published guidance on photography. A photograph of the exterior is available in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database.
- When was the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room built?
- It dates from mid-Meiji, between about 1883 and 1897, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 24, 2021.
- What is the long roof on top of the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room?
- It is a koshi-yane, a raised ventilation roof that here runs the full length of the ridge. Together with windows on the north and south walls of each upstairs room, it helped control temperature and humidity for the silkworms.
- How big is the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room?
- It is a two-story timber building of 118 square meters, with two earth-floored rooms downstairs and three wood-floored rearing rooms upstairs, the second-largest building on the estate.
- Where on the estate is the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room?
- It stands at the south end of the lot, running east to west. The main house lies to the north, and the Storage Shed and gate stand along the east edge.
Basic Information
| Name | Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room |
|---|---|
| Location | 90 Minamigawa and others, Kamishiojiri, Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2021/6/24 (Reiwa 3) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, 2 stories, tiled roof, building area 118 square meters |
| Owner | Private owner (name not published) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (private estate) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Silkworm Room
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013789
- Cultural Properties of Ueda City (Ueda Citizens' ICT Promotion Center): Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki)
- https://museum.umic.jp/bunkazai/document2/127.php
Last verified: 2026.09.26
