Nakahara Family Residence Main House

The House a Headman Rebuilt in 1860

The Nakahara Family Residence Main House (中原家住宅主屋, Nakahara-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is the large 1860 residence at the heart of the Nakahara estate in Akatsuka, Nishi-ku, Niigata City, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on May 10, 2018.

It is a single-story timber building under a tiled roof, with a footprint of 386 square meters, and it was remodeled in the early Shōwa period. The house stands in the middle of the grounds facing east, toward the old road, so that the first thing a visitor sees is a long, heavy hip-and-gable roof.

Inside, the plan runs in an L. Along the front, from north to south, come the chōba (the estate office where rents and tenant accounts were handled), the Shikidai formal entrance for officials and honored guests, an entry room and an anteroom. From there the plan turns ninety degrees and runs back into the house through a sequence of reception rooms that ends in the jōdan-no-ma, the raised room of highest rank. Business at the front, ceremony at the back: the Nakahara Main House lays out a headman's working life in floor plan.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency for Cultural Affairs registered the Nakahara Main House under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape, and its commentary singles out the exterior. The deep eaves use Degeta-zukuri, in which cantilevered brackets carry the eave beam well beyond the wall, and the underside is lined with closely spaced rafters (Taruki). Both were costly refinements, and here they are spent where everyone passing on the road could see them.

The date matters too. An earlier main house burned in 1852, and this one was raised eight years later, at the very end of the Edo period. It went on to host an emperor, absorbed a Shōwa-era remodeling, and still keeps its original room sequence.

What to Look For

Head first for the jōdan-no-ma. On September 16, 1878, Emperor Meiji took lunch in this room during his tour of the Hokuriku region. Its floor sits a step above the adjoining rooms, and its openings frame the garden beyond.

Three framed inscriptions by Hijikata Hisamoto, who accompanied the emperor, hang in the Nakahara Main House. According to the preservation society's guide map, the jōdan-no-ma carries one wishing the emperor's grace a thousand autumns, the second room one naming the house as a former imperial resting place, and the entry room one that praises plowing by day and reading by night.

Then look up at the lintels. The metal caps that hide the nail heads, called Kugikakushi, change from room to room: birds, plants, jewel shapes, each apparently chosen to suit the rank of the room. A Niigata Prefecture culture festival listing also notes five sliding-door paintings by the Niigata artist Gyōda Kaian arranged around the seat the emperor used.

For the full exterior, stand just inside the front gate. The shadow line of the rafters under the eaves reads best in morning light, when the sun comes from the east.

Visiting the Main House

The Nakahara Main House is a private home, and its interior can be seen only on the spring and autumn open days. On those days visitors can usually walk the rooms from the estate office to the jōdan-no-ma; follow staff instructions on which areas are open and whether indoor photography is allowed.

On other days the grounds are closed, and from the road only part of the roof shows above the wall. Opening dates and directions are covered on the Nakahara Family Residence page.