Ninomiya Family Residence New Inner Room

A 1935 Reception Wing Built for the View

The Ninomiya Family Residence New Inner Room (二宮家住宅新奥座敷, Ninomiya-ke Jūtaku Shin-okuzashiki) is a two-storey timber reception wing built in 1935 on the Ninomiya estate in Hasuno, Seirō Town, Niigata Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006. It has a hipped roof of pantiles and a building area of 158 square metres.

The wing stands toward the south-west of the grounds with its ridge running north to south. Its walls are clad in overlapping boards held by notched battens, and a small gabled porch projects from the east side. Downstairs, the plan centres on a ten-mat Zashiki with a Tokonoma; upstairs, in the south-east corner, is a Western-style room. Pairing a formal tatami reception room with a single Western room was not unusual in large provincial houses of the early Showa years.

"New" in the name marks this as a reception wing added long after the 1884 Main House.

Why It Was Registered

The New Inner Room was registered as a model of form. On an estate of fifteen listed structures, only the storehouses and this wing were registered on that criterion.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out its openings. The east and south walls, which face the Bentengata lagoon, are largely given over to glazing and sliding doors. Traditional reception rooms open toward a garden; this one is planned to take in the garden and the water beyond it, and the size and placement of the openings follow from that. The view is the design.

If the Main House expresses a status inherited from the domain era, the New Inner Room shows how the family received guests in the early Showa era. Its quiet hipped roof and board cladding match the storehouses and the house, so it sits easily in the ensemble.

What to Look For

Look first at how little solid wall there is on the east and south faces of the Ninomiya Family Residence New Inner Room. Then find the upstairs Western room: it takes the south-east corner, the spot with the widest view across the lagoon.

The gabled east porch appears to have let guests reach the wing without passing through the Main House. Seen from a few steps back, the contrast between the hipped main roof and the little gable over the entrance makes the building's separate role clear.

Visiting

The interior of the Ninomiya Family Residence New Inner Room is not open. The wing stands toward the south-west of the grounds, and how close the opening-season route comes varies from year to year.

The east and south openings that face the Bentengata lagoon are best seen from the garden side. Follow the on-site guidance on photography.