Nakagawa Family Residence Main House

About the Nakagawa Family Residence Main House

The Nakagawa Family Residence Main House (中川家住宅主屋, Nakagawa-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a townhouse built in 1915 in Imazushicho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, and entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on December 19, 2014. It is a 2-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 143 m², renovated in 2001.

Of the five registered Nakagawa structures, this is the one that faces the street. It went up the year after the Nakagawa, a family of textile merchants, moved to Imazushicho, and it takes the form of a Machiya, a merchant townhouse with the shop at the front and living quarters behind.

The Street Front of the Nakagawa Main House

The Nakagawa Main House faces east onto a narrow lane. Its frontage is unusually wide, and the upper floor is a low-ceilinged Tsushi-nikai half storey. Stand opposite and the roofline visibly steps: on the south side, where a passage of beaten earth runs through to the back, the roof drops a level in what is called Ochimune.

The north half was the shop, or mise. Its front is fitted with flat lattices and a projecting Degōshi lattice, sheltered by a small pent roof known as a kirioke. Above, the eaves are pushed out on projecting purlins (dashigeta) to cast a deep shadow, the plastered upper wall is pierced by Mushiko-mado slatted windows, and wing walls (sodekabe) close off each end of the facade.

Lattice below, deep eaves and slatted windows above: it is the vocabulary of the old Naramachi townhouse, carried out in the Nakagawa Family Residence Main House with Taisho-era materials and care.

Inside the Nakagawa Main House

Inside, an earthen-floored passage one and a half ken wide (about 2.7 m) runs from the street to the rear, open to the roof above as a Fukinuke void. Rooms line it in two rows, and there are formal reception rooms (zashiki) on both floors. Nara City reads the scale of the Nakagawa house from this plan.

Each of the two zashiki has a full set of Zashiki-kazari: an alcove, staggered shelves, Tenbukuro cupboards above and small cupboards below, and a Tsukeshoin writing bay. Between each zashiki and its anteroom is a board Ranma transom carved in Sukashibori openwork. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out these fittings as showing the polish of the Taisho period.

Why the Nakagawa Main House Is Registered

The Nakagawa Family Residence Main House was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the nation. The Agency's note lists the elements of its street front one by one and, taking in the finish of the reception rooms, calls it a townhouse of high quality.

Nara City adds two points. The house follows the traditional Naramachi townhouse form, but on a somewhat larger scale and with refined design and fine materials, making it a good example of a modern-era townhouse. And because it was built after the family was moved out by the construction of the Osaka Electric Tramway's Nara station in 1914, the city also values the Nakagawa Main House as a record of Nara's modern history.

Seeing the Nakagawa Main House

The front of the Nakagawa Main House can be seen from the lane at any time. Compare the low ochimune roof on the south with the lattices and slatted windows of the shop on the north, and the position of the through passage behind the facade becomes clear. The lane is narrow and lined with homes, so keep clear of traffic when you stop to look.

The interior is not open to the public as of October 2026. The Nakagawa Family Residence takes bookings for private cultural programs as Machiya Imazushi, and the operator's pages show the main house and its zashiki. If you want to see the reception rooms, confirm what is included when you make your booking. Directions and booking details are on the Nakagawa Family Residence (Nara City) page.