Northern Culture Museum Kariwa Folk House

A Thatched Farmhouse from Kashiwazaki

The Northern Culture Museum Kariwa Folk House (北方文化博物館刈羽民家, Kariwa Minka) in Somi, Konan Ward, Niigata City, is a single-storey thatched (Kayabuki) farmhouse of the late Edo period, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 April 2000.

The Northern Culture Museum Kariwa Folk House stands in the northeast of the estate, moved here from Kashiwazaki City. It covers 70 square metres, and the Yoshigahira Folk House, also relocated, stands just to its south.

On its age the sources differ. The national database says late Edo, while the museum describes it as preserving the mature form of about 400 years ago, in the early Edo period. This article follows the database and notes the discrepancy.

An Archaic, Unadorned House

The Northern Culture Museum Kariwa Folk House was registered as a model of good design. It has a three-room plan, a stable entrance projecting in front of the kitchen, and a single thatched roof over the whole.

Inside, there is no ceiling, so the roof beams are exposed. Only the main room has a raised timber floor; the rest is earth. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a simple house that preserves an old-fashioned form.

Within the grounds of a Meiji mansion, it lets visitors compare an older rural way of building.

The Stable Porch and the Open Roof

From outside, look at the stable entrance projecting in front of the kitchen of the Northern Culture Museum Kariwa Folk House. The neighbouring Yoshigahira Folk House extends its stable in another way, under a stone-weighted board roof; comparing the two shows regional differences in farmhouse design.

Inside, look up into the open roof frame and take in the extent of the earthen floor, a world away from the polished rooms of the main house.

Visiting the Kariwa Folk House

The Northern Culture Museum Kariwa Folk House is in the northeast of the museum grounds. The museum says ancient Oga lotuses bloom in the pond by the old farmhouses from late June into July, double cherries around them colour in late April, and in winter the houses are wrapped against the snow.

Follow on-site signs on how far you may go inside. Take particular care with anything that could cause a fire near thatch, and keep photos and posts to personal use.