Horii Family Residence

The Horii Family Residence

The Horii Family Residence (堀井家住宅, Horii-ke Jūtaku) in Anashi, Sakurai City, Nara Prefecture, is a family estate whose six structures, three from the late Edo period (1830 to 1867) and three from around 1932, were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on March 2, 2004 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

They were entered in the 41st round of registrations under consecutive numbers, 29-0083 to 29-0088 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Nara Prefecture's list of registered properties gives the group as "Horii Family Residence Main House and five others", six entries under Anashi, Sakurai.

The estate sits on the eastern rim of the Nara Basin, in the village of Anashi with Mount Miwa to the east, and the main house faces that mountain (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The Anashi River runs past the front of the property.

How the Estate Is Laid Out

Read together, the Agency's descriptions give a fair picture of the plan. The estate faces east. A nagayamon, a gatehouse with rooms on either side of the passage, stands near the middle of the east side with the Anashi River in front of it, and a wall runs north from the gate before turning a right angle, closing the east and north sides.

The main house also faces east, with the detached room joined to its north gable end by a corridor. Against its south gable stands the milling shed, which once drew a channel of water into its east end on the street side. Along the west side runs the rice storehouse, 21 metres long. A second stretch of wall fills the gap between the detached room and the storehouse.

Two Periods in One Compound

The dates fall cleanly into two groups. The detached room, the milling shed and the rice storehouse belong to the late Edo period (1830 to 1867); the main house, the gate and the wall date from around 1932 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Set side by side, the dates suggest a family that rebuilt the heart of the house and its street front in the early Showa era and kept the older guest room, workshop and storehouse around them.

The Agency's note on the milling shed says a waterwheel set in the channel pressed oil, polished rice and ground flour, including the raw material for Miwa somen noodles. The estate was a working place as well as a home.

The main house and the detached room were registered as models of design; the gate, the milling shed, the rice storehouse and the wall for their contribution to the historic landscape (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

• Main house: 1932, timber, 2 storeys, tiled roof, 223 m² (29-0083)
• Detached room: late Edo period, single-storey timber, tiled roof, 35 m² (29-0084)
• Nagayamon gate: 1932, single-storey timber, tiled roof, 27 m² (29-0085)
• Milling shed: late Edo period, single-storey timber, sheet-iron roof, 60 m² (29-0086)
• Rice storehouse: late Edo period, single-storey earthen-walled storehouse, tiled roof, 110 m² (29-0087)
• Wall: about 1932, timber, tiled coping, 30 metres long (29-0088)

Visiting

Neither the Agency nor Nara Prefecture publishes any visiting arrangements for the Horii Family Residence, and as of October 2026 no official information on open days or tours could be found. The owner field in the national database is blank. If you go, stay on the road and do not enter the grounds.

The nearest station is Makimuku on the JR Sakurai Line (Man'yo Mahoroba Line). The estate lies about 1.2 kilometres due east of the station in a straight line, a figure worked out from the property's coordinates.