What Is the Tomita Family Residence Main House?
The Tomita Family Residence Main House (冨田家住宅主屋, Tomita-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is the principal dwelling of a prosperous farming family's estate in Takayamacho, Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture; it was built in 1890 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 November 2016. It is a 2-storey timber building covering 242 square meters, the largest of the nine registered buildings on the estate.
It stands at the center of a terrace cut into the hillside and held by stone walls, facing south, and its registration also covers a gate and an earthen wall. The gatehouse, storehouses, reception wing, annex and miso room are all arranged around the Tomita Family Residence Main House.
Nine Rooms and a Formal Entrance
Inside, the Tomita Family Residence Main House is laid out as nine rooms in three rows of three, with the Doma, the earth-floored work area, on the right-hand side. That is a generous plan for a farmhouse, large enough to keep rooms for guests apart from the family's own.
The front of the middle row has a Shikidai, a raised formal entrance for receiving guests of standing, a feature normally reserved for leading village households. The eight-mat room at the southwest corner is a Zashiki reception room wrapped by a veranda. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out these fittings as a record of how upper-rank farming families lived in the Meiji era.
A Low Upper Floor Under a Wide Roof
Outside, the Tomita Family Residence Main House has a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) roof over a Tsushi-nikai upper floor, a low-ceilinged loft used mainly for storage. A lean-to roof, or Geya, runs around all four sides below the main roof, so the house reads as broad and low rather than tall.
The house has been altered several times. The national database records work around 1970, again in the early 1980s, and in 1995. Through those changes the 1890 plan survived, and that continuity underpins the registration, which was made for the building's contribution to the historic landscape.
Visiting the Tomita Family Residence Main House
The Tomita Family Residence Main House is still a family home and its interior is closed to the public. The rooms and the formal entrance could not be seen on any tour or opening found in the sources checked.
The house stands in the middle of the estate, behind the gatehouse on the south and the buildings along the western wall. Please stay off the grounds and the lane up to the gate, and look at the estate only from the public road.
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Q&A
- What is the Tomita Family Residence Main House?
- It is the principal dwelling of a Meiji-era farming estate, built in 1890: a 2-storey timber house covering 242 square meters, the largest of the nine registered buildings, with a gate and earthen wall included in the registration.
- When was the Tomita Family Residence Main House registered?
- On 29 November 2016, as Registered Tangible Cultural Property No. 29-0240, for its contribution to the historic landscape.
- What is special about the plan of the Tomita Family Residence Main House?
- It has nine rooms in three rows of three, with the earthen work floor on the right, a formal shikidai entrance at the front of the middle row, and a veranda around the eight-mat reception room at the southwest corner.
- What does the Tomita Family Residence Main House look like from outside?
- It has a gabled roof over a low tsushi-nikai loft, with a lean-to roof running around all four sides, giving the house a broad, low profile.
- Can I go inside the Tomita Family Residence Main House?
- No. It is still lived in and the interior is closed. The estate can only be viewed from the public road.
Basic Information
| Name | Tomita Family Residence Main House (冨田家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 3830 Takayamacho, Ikoma City, Nara Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), No. 29-0240 |
| Year Designated | Registered 29 November 2016 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 2-storey timber building, tiled roof, building area 242 square meters, with gate and earthen wall |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Closed to the public (no entry to the grounds) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Tomita Family Residence Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs, in Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011380
- Tomita Family Residence Main House (Cultural Heritage Online, in Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/221307
- Minutes of the 172nd Cultural Properties Subcommittee, Council for Cultural Affairs, 15 July 2016 (in Japanese)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkashingikai/bunkazai/16/pdf/gijiyoshi_172.pdf
- Ikoma City Cultural Properties Protection Council, meeting materials (in Japanese)
- https://www.city.ikoma.lg.jp/cmsfiles/contents/0000000/562/siryou.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.28
