Matsuura Family Residence (Oji)

About the Matsuura Family Residence

The Matsuura Family Residence (松浦家住宅, Matsuura-ke Jūtaku) is a house built around 1910 in Kudo, Oji-cho, Kitakatsuragi-gun, Nara Prefecture, whose six structures (main house, former examination room, annex, tool storehouse, former rice storehouse and gate nagaya) were entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on September 10, 2010.

It was built by Matsuura Otokichi, the ninth head of the family. The National Council for the Utilization of Modern Heritage (Zenkin) explains that Otokichi, trading under the name Otogoro, set up a tunneling outfit called the Matsuura-gumi. It worked as a subcontractor to Kajima-gumi, the firm now known as Kajima Corporation, and to Hoshino Shoten, which had split off from Kajima. His crews bored railway tunnels in places as far apart as Hokkaido and Kagoshima, with jobs in Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Kyoto and Miyazaki as well. Oji Town's own listing describes the Matsuura Family Residence simply as the family seat of the tunnel contractor.

One building is younger than the rest. In 1946 the eleventh head of the family put up the former examination room when he opened a medical practice, so a small postwar clinic sits against a house of the late Meiji era.

Six Structures of the Matsuura Family Residence

All six were entered in the 68th round of registration as nos. 29-0192 to 29-0197. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records them as follows.

• Main house: around 1910, altered in 1946 and 1955. Timber, tiled roof, building area 179 m² (the structure field says one storey; the Agency's note says a tsushi-nikai with a low upper floor)
• Former examination room: 1946, altered in 1955. Single-storey timber, sheet-metal roof, building area 22 m²
• Annex: around 1910, altered in 1985 and 2001. Single-storey timber, tiled roof, building area 85 m²
• Tool storehouse: around 1910. 2-storey earth-walled storehouse, tiled roof, building area 19 m²
• Former rice storehouse: around 1910, altered in 2008. Single-storey earth-walled storehouse, tiled roof, building area 31 m²
• Gate nagaya: around 1910, altered in 1957 and 2008. Single-storey timber, tiled roof, building area 56 m²

Only the main house was registered as a model of design. The other five were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape. The split mirrors how the estate works: the main house, with its formal reception rooms, carries the architecture, while the storehouses and the long gate building make up the setting around it.

How the Matsuura Estate Is Laid Out

Pieced together from the Agency's notes, the Matsuura Family Residence is arranged roughly like this. The main house stands in the middle of the plot with its ridge running east to west, and the former examination room is attached to its south side. North of the main house is the annex, joined to it by a short corridor. The tool storehouse continues from the annex's west end, running north to south and closing off the back of the estate.

The east edge is the front. Toward its south end stands the former rice storehouse, and from its north wall the gate nagaya runs about 19 m north along the boundary. The front gate is set into the south end of the gate nagaya, so the storehouse and the long gate building together form one continuous street face.

In short, the Matsuura Family Residence puts storage and service buildings along the front, the main house in the center and the annex and tool storehouse at the rear. Each building's own structure and details are covered on its page.

Visiting the Matsuura Family Residence

The Matsuura Family Residence is a private home and is not normally open. Oji Town's entry in the national survey database maintained by the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties states that it cannot be visited. Zenkin reports that the former rice storehouse alone is used as a bar in an old building, closed on Mondays, but its current operation could not be confirmed (checked October 2026).

The interiors can be seen only during special openings. Oji Town opened the Matsuura Family Residence on November 11 and 12, 2023, as part of the nationwide open days for modern heritage, the first time the town had joined that program. In March 2022 a guided walk around the town's cultural properties also ended with a special viewing here. For future dates, contact the Cultural Resources section of Oji Town's Community Exchange Division (phone 0745-72-6565).

There is no official guidance on photography. If you photograph the exterior from the road, keep the private household out of the frame.

The house is about 200 m, or a 3-minute walk, from JR and Kintetsu Oji Station and Kintetsu Shin-Oji Station, according to Zenkin. Several JR and Kintetsu lines meet at Oji, so the home of a family that made its living digging railway tunnels stands a few minutes from a busy rail hub.