Matsuura Family Residence Former Examination Room

About the Matsuura Family Residence Former Examination Room

The Matsuura Family Residence Former Examination Room (松浦家住宅旧診察室, Matsuura-ke Jūtaku Kyū-Shinsatsushitsu) is a small single-storey timber clinic building of 1946 in Kudo, Oji-cho, Kitakatsuragi-gun, Nara Prefecture, entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on September 10, 2010. It was altered in 1955.

According to the National Council for the Utilization of Modern Heritage, it is the one structure at the Matsuura Family Residence that does not date from the Meiji era: the eleventh head of the family built it when he opened a medical practice. It is attached to the south side of the main house, which was built around 1910.

A Western Face on a Meiji House

The walls are finished in mortar, with pilaster-like corner posts at all four corners and a Parapet running around the top. The roof itself is sheet metal, but the parapet rises above the eaves line and hides it from view. Set against the tiled hip-and-gable roof of the main house, the result is a boxy, Western-style front that looks every bit the postwar doctor's office.

Including the section where it meets the main house, the Matsuura Family Residence Former Examination Room measures 6.8 m north to south and 3.2 m east to west, with a building area of 22 m². The entrance is toward the north end of the east wall, and the south end served as the examination room, so patients came in from the east and were seen in the room at the far end.

The Round Window with Green Glass

The detail the Agency for Cultural Affairs makes a point of recording is just inside the entrance. A round window is cut into the wall there and glazed with green glass. Mortar and corner pilasters give the building its Western look, but the round window is a shape long favored in Japanese interiors, and its tinted circle of light is the most memorable feature of the Matsuura Family Residence Former Examination Room.

Why the Former Examination Room Was Registered

The Matsuura Family Residence Former Examination Room was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. Where the main house was registered as a model of design, this building is valued as a chapter in the estate's story: the home of a Meiji-era tunnel contractor that became a town doctor's house after the war.

Seeing the Matsuura Family Residence Former Examination Room

The Matsuura Family Residence Former Examination Room is part of a private home, and its interior is not open (checked October 2026). Interior details such as the green-glazed round window can be seen only during Oji Town's special openings. It is attached to the south side of the main house, and how much of it can be seen from outside could not be confirmed. There is no official guidance on photography. Directions and contact details are on the Matsuura Family Residence page.