Nakagawa Family Residence Annex

About the Nakagawa Family Residence Annex

The Nakagawa Family Residence Annex (中川家住宅離れ, Nakagawa-ke Jūtaku Hanare) is a single-storey timber garden annex built in the early Showa period (1926 to 1945) in Imazushicho, Nara City, Nara Prefecture, and entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on December 19, 2014. It has a tiled roof and a building area of 24 m², and was renovated in 2001.

It is the smallest of the five registered Nakagawa structures and the most recent. The main house and storehouse date from 1915; the annex was added at the back of the courtyard after the Showa era began.

Two Roof Forms on One Small Building

The Nakagawa Annex stands behind the main house across the inner courtyard and is linked to it by the connecting corridor. Its roof changes shape from one end to the other. The east end, facing the courtyard, is finished in the hipped-and-gabled Irimoya-zukuri form; the west end, facing away, is a plain gable in the Kirizuma-zukuri style. The more formal profile is turned toward the garden, and the back is kept simple.

Along the eaves run Taruki rafters left as round logs rather than squared timber, which softens the line of the roof edge.

Walls and Windows of the Nakagawa Annex

On the garden side, the east wall of the Nakagawa Annex has a lower band in araidashi, a finish in which gravel set in mortar is washed to expose the stones, giving the base a stony texture. Above it, the wall is plastered in grey Shikkui and fitted with glass windows. The north wall is quieter: plaster above, vertical boarding below.

Nara City points out that the veranda is placed on the south side rather than toward the courtyard, and reads this as modern planning that took sunlight into account. The Agency for Cultural Affairs likewise describes the annex as an open building designed to bring light in from the garden.

Why the Nakagawa Annex Is Registered

The Nakagawa Family Residence Annex was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the nation. The Agency sees it as part of what gives the garden its atmosphere.

Nara City values it, together with the main house and the corridor, as one of the elements that make up the courtyard space, and as an example of an annex in a modern-era Nara townhouse. Of the three buildings around the courtyard, the Nakagawa Annex is the one that turns its irimoya gable toward the garden, closing the view from the main house's reception rooms.

Seeing the Nakagawa Annex

The Nakagawa Annex sits at the back of the courtyard and cannot be seen from the lane, and the interior is not open to the public as of October 2026. The compound is used for reservation-only cultural programs as Machiya Imazushi, and the operator's pages include a view of the courtyard from the zashiki. Ask whether the annex, or a view of it from the courtyard, is included when you book. Directions and booking details are on the Nakagawa Family Residence (Nara City) page.