Okamoto Family Residence Store and Main House

What Is the Okamoto Family Residence Store and Main House?

The Okamoto Family Residence Store and Main House (岡本家住宅店舗兼主屋, Okamoto-ke Jūtaku Tenpo-ken-shuoku) is a 1906 merchant's town house facing east onto the old Shimotsumichi road in Yagicho 2-chome, Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture; a 2-storey timber building that served as both shop and family home, it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 November 2016. With a building area of 279 square meters, it is the largest of the six registered buildings of the Okamoto Family Residence.

It is made up of a front block on the street, a living block behind it, an entrance wing linking the two, and stretches of earthen wall. The walls stand on the north side of the courtyard, the south side of the passage and the northwest corner of the plot, and they are included in the registration of the Store and Main House.

A House in Two Blocks

The Okamoto Store and Main House follows the Omoteya-zukuri plan. Instead of fitting shop and home under one roof, the plan puts a front block for business on the street, sets the main living block well back, and joins them with an entrance wing, so the house grows in depth rather than width.

The two blocks differ in height. The front block is Tsushi-nikai, with only a low attic storey above the shop, while the living block behind is fully two-storey. The eaves stay low toward the street, and the family gained height and space at the back.

A central corridor, or naka-rōka, runs from the entrance through the living block, with rooms opening off both sides. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the Okamoto Family Residence Store and Main House was built of good timber and finished with care.

Lattice Below, Plaster Above

What the Agency singled out when registering the building is its street front. The projecting wooden lattice of the ground floor, known as Degōshi, and the Shikkui lime-plastered walls of the upper floor, it explains, shape the streetscape of the Shimotsumichi. The building was registered for contributing to the historic landscape.

For the best view, step back to the far side of the road. The lattice pushes out toward the street at ground level, while above it a band of white plaster runs level along the front. Two layers of different depth and material sit within the low profile of the attic-storey front block.

The Store and Main House is also the gateway to the other five registered buildings behind it: the corridor, the annex, the two earthen-walled storehouse buildings and the storage shed. Of the six, it is the only one that shows, from the public road, the face a large Meiji-era merchant house turned to the highway.

Visiting the Okamoto Store and Main House

The Okamoto Family Residence Store and Main House is a private home and is not open to visitors. The interior and the grounds beyond the entrance are closed.

Its street front, however, can be seen directly from the Shimotsumichi. Please take photographs from the public road and avoid lingering in the doorway, where you may block residents or passers-by. The layout of the site and directions from the station are on the Okamoto Family Residence page.