Fujioka Family Residence

A Village Headman's Compound Below Mount Kongo

The Fujioka Family Residence (藤岡家住宅, Fujioka-ke Jūtaku) is a village headman's compound in Konnaicho, Gojo City, Nara Prefecture, whose ten structures, from an inner storehouse of 1797 to a reception wing of 1912, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 2 March 2006. It sits in the Kita-Uchi district at the northern edge of Gojo, on the Nara side of Mount Kongo, whose ridge rises close by to the northwest.

Konnai once marked the start of the shortest road from southern Yamato over Mount Kongo to Osaka, and travellers passed the Fujioka gate in numbers. The heads of the house traded as Osakaya Chobei. The first Chobei is recorded as headman (shoya) of Konnai village from 1789 to 1792, and the family is said to have run money-changing, pawnbroking, a pharmacy and an indigo dye works alongside its village duties. This was a house that governed and a house that traded, under one roof.

In the modern era the family produced Fujioka Nagakazu, a Home Ministry official who served as governor of Saga, Wakayama and Kumamoto prefectures and wrote haiku under the name Gyokkotsu in the Hototogisu circle. He corresponded with Yosano Tekkan and Akiko, Takahama Kyoshi and Mori Ogai, and letters and photographs from that world stayed in the house. Gyokkotsu, "jade bones", is an old poetic name for plum, and he wrote that he chose it for the ancient red plum in the courtyard.

After his death the house fell empty for more than twenty years and deteriorated badly. The present head of the family, living in the Kanto region, paid for a restoration lasting about three years, carried out by local carpenters, plasterers, roof tilers and paperhangers. A citizens' nonprofit, NPO Uchinono Yakata, took on management, and the Fujioka Family Residence opened to the public in November 2008. It now works as a local museum, rotating displays of household objects and literary papers through the seasons.

Ten Registrations and 115 Years of Building

The ten registered structures are the Main House, Inner Storehouse, Annex Reception Wing, Detached Room, New Reception Wing, Connecting Corridor, Rice Storehouse, Yakuimon Gate, Tsuiji Wall and Wall, carrying consecutive registration numbers 29-0097 to 29-0106. Registration in Japan works building by building, so there is no single listing called the Fujioka Family Residence; the name gathers ten separate entries.

Two different criteria were applied. The Main House, Inner Storehouse, Annex Reception Wing, Detached Room and New Reception Wing were registered as models of architectural form. The Connecting Corridor, Rice Storehouse, Yakuimon Gate, Tsuiji Wall and Wall were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape. Put simply, the rooms where the family lived and received guests were judged on design, and the structures that enclose, link and serve them were judged on the scene they make together.

Lined up by date, the buildings show how the compound grew. The Inner Storehouse of 1797 is the oldest, followed by the Main House of 1832. The Annex Reception Wing went up in 1853, and the Detached Room and both walls are assigned to the last decades of the Edo period. The Meiji era added the Rice Storehouse in 1892, the Connecting Corridor in 1896, the gate in the late Meiji years and finally the New Reception Wing in 1912. Some 115 years of additions add up to one household.

How the Compound Is Laid Out

The Fujioka Family Residence occupies a corner plot. The Main House faces the street to the east, with its north side also on a road. Standing in the eastern street you see a single run of frontage: the Main House, then the gable of the Inner Storehouse to its south, then the Yakuimon Gate. From the gate the Tsuiji Wall turns south, follows the southern edge of the plot and ends at the New Reception Wing on the west, a folded line about 78 metres long that gives the compound its outer face.

Inside, the Connecting Corridor runs back from the Main House to the Detached Room on the west and the Annex Reception Wing in the northwest corner, with the New Reception Wing attached south of the Detached Room. Except for the Rice Storehouse, which stands across the street on a separate lot to the east, every building is joined by covered passages, so you can walk to the back of the house without stepping into the rain. A short wall on a rough stone base guards the street corner at the northwest.

In the courtyard grows the Chobei plum, named after the first head of the house and around 250 years old. Its red blossoms usually open from early to late March, the season when the compound looks its best. Beyond the ten registered structures a third storehouse, the Renjigura, also survives.

Visiting and Getting There

No reservation is needed on open days. Hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; the house is closed on Mondays, or on Tuesday when Monday is a public holiday. Admission, collected as a maintenance contribution, is 300 yen for adults (high school age and over) and 200 yen for children aged 6 through junior high school, with 20 percent off for groups of 20 or more. Holders of a disability certificate enter free. As an Edo and Meiji building it has raised thresholds and steep stairs, and the managers advise visitors using wheelchairs to call ahead or come to look first.

Displays change four times a year with the seasons. Concerts, haiku gatherings and other events run about twice a month, and the reception rooms and large hall can be booked for meetings, tea gatherings and meals. There is a small cafe. On event days some rooms may be in use, so if you have a particular room in mind, phone first (0747-22-4013).

Photography is permitted for non-commercial purposes. The collection belongs to the Fujioka family, and photographs taken for sale are not allowed. During concerts and talks, take care not to capture other guests.

By rail, the house is about a 20-minute walk, roughly 1.3 km, from Kita-Uchi Station on the JR Wakayama Line. By car it is about five minutes from the Gojo-kita interchange of the Keinawa Expressway: follow the frontage road toward Route 310, turn right at the Fujioka Family Residence sign and keep on toward Mount Kongo. The official information does not state whether parking is available, so drivers should ask in advance.