Matsuyama Family Residence

About the Matsuyama Family Residence

The Matsuyama Family Residence (松山家住宅, Matsuyama-ke Jūtaku) is a rice merchant's townhouse in Nishinoshinyacho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, centred on a north wing dated 1829, whose five structures (main house south wing, main house north wing, connecting corridor, barley storehouse and rice storehouse) were entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on November 17, 2015.

The house sits close to the middle of Naramachi, the old merchant quarter south of Nara's great temples. According to Nara City and Nara Prefecture, the Matsuyama family ran a rice wholesale business here until the years before the Second World War. The two street-front buildings held the shop and the family's living rooms; the two earth-walled storehouses at the back held the rice and barley. What makes the Matsuyama Family Residence unusual is that the whole sequence survives: the shopfront on the street at one end, the grain stores at the far end of the plot.

The buildings stayed in use after the rice trade ended. Nara City records that the north wing became a private museum, the Nara Orient-kan, at the time of the 1988 Nara Silk Road Exposition, with the rice storehouse serving as one of its galleries. From 2000 the rice storehouse was used as a restaurant, and until 2015 the north wing housed an FM radio station. The south wing was renovated in the same year, 2000, and became a tofu restaurant.

Five Structures of the Matsuyama Family Residence

All five were entered in the 82nd round of registration as nos. 29-0221 to 29-0225, and all five were listed for their contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records them as follows.

• Main house south wing: late Edo period, renovated in 2000. Single-storey timber, tiled roof, building area 97 m²
• Main house north wing: 1829. 2-storey timber, tiled roof, building area 97 m²
• Connecting corridor: early Showa period. Single-storey timber, tiled roof, building area 26 m²
• Barley storehouse: early Showa period. Single-storey earth-walled storehouse, tiled roof, building area 45 m²
• Rice storehouse: early Showa period. Single-storey earth-walled storehouse, tiled roof, building area 71 m²

Only the north wing can be dated precisely, thanks to its ridge tag, and Nara City treats it as a reference example for early modern townhouses in Naramachi. The south wing shows an older type of house than its neighbour, and the city's notes suggest it may go back to the 18th century.

The reading of 主屋 (main house) differs between sources: the Agency's database gives shuoku, while Nara City's page gives omoya.

How the Matsuyama Estate Is Laid Out

The two main houses of the Matsuyama Family Residence face east onto a lane running north to south. The south wing stands right on the street line, and the north wing is set back from it, so the two fronts step back one after the other. Nara Prefecture and Nara City describe this staggered arrangement as gankō, after the slanting line of a flight of wild geese. From the lane, the difference in eave height between the single-storey south wing and the north wing, with its low upper floor, is easy to read. The two parts also have separate lot numbers: the south wing is at Nishinoshinyacho 44, and the other four structures are at 43-2.

Behind the north wing, the connecting corridor runs back along an inner courtyard. Beyond the corridor stands the barley storehouse, facing south, and at the far west end of the plot is the rice storehouse, facing east. Walking back from the street, you pass the shop first, then the household's private courtyard, and only then the grain stores.

Nara City notes that the corridor and the barley storehouse together frame a courtyard of the kind traditional in Nara townhouses. Each building's structure and details are covered on its own page.

Visiting the Matsuyama Family Residence

Nara City lists the Matsuyama Family Residence as privately owned, and there are no opening days or admission fees for it as a heritage site. The two street-front buildings, however, are used as eateries, so you can go inside as a customer. Nara Prefecture's official tourism site, Naraiko, lists the south wing (Nishinoshinyacho 44) as the tofu restaurant Naramachi Tofuan Kondo and places the tearoom Sabo Nonnon inside the north wing, the Nara Orient-kan (checked October 2026). Opening days and hours differ between the two and can change, so check with each before you go.

The exteriors can be seen by anyone from the lane in Nishinoshinyacho. There is no official guidance on photography. Inside, follow the rules of each business.

The Matsuyama Family Residence is about a 13-minute walk from Kintetsu Nara Station, according to the south wing restaurant's listing, and about a 12-minute walk from Kyobate Station on the JR Sakurai Line (Manyo Mahoroba Line), according to the north wing tearoom's listing. Neither has parking, and Naramachi's lanes are narrow, so arriving by train is the practical choice.