Ikekawa Family Residence Annex

About the Ikekawa Family Residence Annex

The Ikekawa Family Residence Annex (池川家住宅離れ, Ikekawa-ke Jūtaku Hanare) is a single-story wooden reception wing from the early Showa period behind the main house of the Ikekawa Family Residence in Nakamachi, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2018.

It stands at the middle of the north edge of the plot, behind the main house, with its ridge running east to west. The roof is tiled and the building area is 45 square meters. It was renovated in 1996. Dated to the early Showa period (1926 to 1945), the annex is older than the main house of 1967.

Why the Ikekawa Annex was registered

The Ikekawa Family Residence Annex was registered as contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a zashiki wing, a building for formal tatami rooms, that preserves a glimpse of how people lived in the early Showa period.

Nara City points to its veranda running along the garden side and to its carefully contrived details: the formal alcove arrangement, carved transoms and a cusped window. The city groups the annex with the east and west storehouses as buildings that convey how a Nara family estate was laid out in the modern era. Set apart from the main house as a separate wing of tatami rooms, this small 45-square-meter building packs a great deal of craft into one floor.

What to look for at the Ikekawa Annex

The east end of the east-west roof is finished as a hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri). Along the east and south sides, the eaves are edged in copper sheet (Dōban-buki), so a thin metal line runs around two sides of the tiled roof.

Inside are two rooms in a row (Tsuzukima). The main room has the full set of formal fittings: a Tokonoma alcove, Tokowaki shelving beside it and a built-in writing bay (Tsukeshoin). The Ranma transom between the rooms is carved. In the north wall of the second room is a Katōmado, a bell-shaped window with a cusped top, a form that came from Zen temple architecture. Even the wall nearest the north edge of the plot was given such a decorative window, which says a lot about the care taken over this annex.

Small and single-story as it is, the Ikekawa Annex gathers nearly every showpiece of a Japanese reception room under one roof.

Visiting the Ikekawa Family Residence Annex

The Ikekawa Family Residence Annex is part of a private home, and we found no notice of the interior being opened as of October 2026. The alcove, transoms and window are all inside and cannot be seen from outside.

Because the annex stands at the back of the plot behind the main house, we have not confirmed whether it can be seen from the prefectural road. Please do not enter the grounds, and keep any photographs to what is visible from the road. The estate layout and directions are on the Ikekawa Family Residence page.