Northern Culture Museum Tokiwaso

The Oldest Building on the Estate

The Northern Culture Museum Tokiwaso (北方文化博物館常盤荘, Tokiwasō) in Somi, Konan Ward, Niigata City, is a single-storey timber dwelling built in 1860 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 April 2000.

The Northern Culture Museum Tokiwaso stands in the northeast corner of the grounds and covers 150 square metres. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it from an ink inscription on the back of a board in the tokonoma alcove. The fifth head began the present mansion in 1882, so Tokiwaso is more than 20 years older.

The museum describes it as a detached reception wing attached to the old main house where the family lived until about 1887, at one time home to the chief clerk, and calls it the origin of the Ito residence.

A House of the Last Edo Years

The Northern Culture Museum Tokiwaso was registered as a model of good design. It is a single-storey building with a hipped (Yosemune-zukuri) pantile roof (Sangawara-buki) and a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) entrance projecting at the front left.

The agency notes that it once served as a detached wing, with an innermost room fitted with an alcove and shelves, and that its modest materials and plain finish reflect a dwelling of the late Edo period.

This plain wing gives a sense of how the Itos lived before the grand Meiji house went up.

Gabled Porch, Inner Room

From outside, notice how the Northern Culture Museum Tokiwaso pairs a broad hipped roof with a small gabled porch at the front left. Giving the entrance its own roof form marks clearly where to go in.

Inside, the room with the alcove and shelves lies at the back. Its restrained materials make an instructive contrast with the fine timber used in the Meiji main house and great hall.

Visiting Tokiwaso

The Northern Culture Museum Tokiwaso is in the northeast corner of the museum grounds. The museum says it is still used for tea gatherings and ceremonies.

On event days access around or inside the building may be limited, so ask at reception what can be seen and whether photography is allowed.