Matsuyama Family Residence Main House North Wing

About the Matsuyama Family Residence Main House North Wing

The Matsuyama Family Residence Main House North Wing (松山家住宅主屋北棟, Matsuyama-ke Jūtaku Shuoku Kitatō) is a two-storey timber Machiya townhouse built in 1829 in Nishinoshinyacho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on November 17, 2015. Its date is known from a Munafuda ridge tag.

It faces east onto a north-south lane, set back a step from the south wing next door. Of the two main houses built by the Matsuyama family, rice wholesalers, the north wing is the one with the connecting corridor and storehouses behind it, so it also serves as the way into the back of the estate.

The Street Front of the North Wing

The upper floor is a low-ceilinged Tsushi-nikai, and the roof is a Kirizuma-zukuri gable in Sangawara-buki pantiles, with Hisashi eaves along the front and back. The building area is 97 m², the same as the south wing.

The front is screened by a lattice made of round logs. Above the eaves the wall is plastered black and pierced by two Mushiko-mado slatted windows, one on each side, where the lower south wing has only one. Wing walls project at both ends of the facade; Nara City describes them as sode-Udatsu, the firebreak walls of the townhouse tradition.

Inside, the southern 1.5 ken of the frontage is an earth-floored passage, and the northern 2 ken hold the living rooms. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, three rooms line up in a row along the passage, the standard townhouse plan in which rooms run from the street to the back.

A Dated Benchmark for Naramachi Townhouses

The Matsuyama Family Residence Main House North Wing was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. What both the Agency and Nara City emphasise is that its date is certain. A building with a fixed date gives a reference point for estimating the age of others. Because the ridge tag fixes the north wing at 1829, it is regarded as a benchmark against which other early modern townhouses in Naramachi can be measured.

That fixed date is also what allows the south wing next door to be read as the older type. At the Matsuyama Family Residence, the north wing is the yardstick.

Later Uses and Visiting the North Wing

Nara City records that the north wing became the Nara Orient-kan, a private museum, at the time of the 1988 Nara Silk Road Exposition. From 2000 to 2015 it also housed an FM radio station.

Today the tearoom Sabo Nonnon operates inside. Nara Prefecture's official tourism site, Naraiko, describes an inner courtyard and veranda, and lists Monday as the closing day (checked October 2026). As a customer you can step inside the Matsuyama Family Residence Main House North Wing and look out over the courtyard. Days and hours can change, so check before you go.

There are no heritage opening days. The log lattice and the paired slatted windows are visible from the lane in Nishinoshinyacho. There is no official guidance on photography; inside, follow the tearoom's rules. Directions to the estate are on the Matsuyama Family Residence page.