What the Main House Is
The Hoashi Family Branch Residence (Shoseki Furokan) Main House (帆足家分家住宅（松石不老館）主屋) is a merchant house built in 1906 in Hetsugi Honmachi, Nakahetsugi, Oita City, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 10 November 2005. It stands along the street on the east side of the plot, long in the north to south direction, and is the largest of the eleven listed structures on the property.
The frame measures 8 and a half bays by 6 bays. It is a wooden house of 2 stories under an Irimoya-zukuri roof of pantiles, with a building area of 212 square metres.
Inside, two kinds of space share one roof. The plan follows the shop-house type, organised around a through-passage of beaten earth that runs from the street toward the back. On the north side, a formal Zashiki and its anteroom were set aside for receiving guests. Trade at the front, hospitality to the north: the layout of the Hoashi Family Branch Residence Main House spells out both jobs a Meiji merchant's house had to do.
Why It Was Listed
Of the eleven structures, only the main house was registered under the criterion of being difficult to reproduce. The other ten were listed for their contribution to the historic landscape.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs (ACA) commentary rests its case on the guest rooms. It calls their design excellent and says they show how skilled carpenters had become by the modern era. In a merchant house the shop floor tends to follow convention; the reception rooms are where an owner's taste and a carpenter's hand show most. This house is evidence of the standard a provincial market-town family could ask of its builders in the late Meiji period.
It also anchors the compound. The Hoashi Family Branch Residence works as a street-front main house with reception rooms, bathhouse, well and storehouses arranged behind it. The main house is the public face; the other ten carry the household's daily life and stores.
What to Look For
Start with the roof. An irimoya roof is gabled in its upper part and hipped below, with a triangular face at each end. Because this house runs north to south beside the street, its ridge parallels the road and the gables face north and south. From the southern end of the frontage you can take in the south gable and the long eave line running up the street in one view.
Then pace out the frontage. Eight and a half bays is a generous width, from an era when street frontage signalled a merchant's standing. With its second story, the Hoashi Family Branch Residence Main House presents its full size to anyone walking by.
The reception rooms the ACA praises lie in the northern part of the house. They are not open, but knowing where they are changes how you read the facade: the southern end nearer the gate is the trading side, the northern end the side for guests.
Visiting
The Hoashi Family Branch Residence Main House is not open to the public, and the interior cannot be entered (checked 25 September 2026). The exterior is visible from the road on the east side, and of all eleven structures this is the one you can see most completely from the street.
We found no information on whether photography is restricted. This is a private home, so keep your lens off windows and doorways and take in the building from across the road.
Directions to the site as a whole are on the Hoashi Family Branch Residence page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Oita
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Hoashi Family Branch Residence (Shoseki Furokan) Main House
- [ Beppu Hell Tour & Yufuin Onsen Hot Springs ]
Q&A
- When was the Hoashi Family Branch Residence Main House built?
- In 1906. The grain and miso storehouses on the same plot date from 1889, so the main house is the newer building.
- What kind of building is the Hoashi Family Branch Residence Main House?
- A 2-story wooden merchant house of 8 and a half by 6 bays under a hip-and-gable pantile roof. It follows the shop-house plan with an earthen through-passage, and its north side holds a formal reception room and anteroom.
- Why is the Hoashi Family Branch Residence Main House a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered as difficult to reproduce. The ACA cites the fine design of the guest rooms as evidence of advanced modern carpentry. It is the only one of the eleven listed structures registered under that criterion.
- How do you pronounce Shoseki Furokan?
- Shōseki Furōkan. The ACA database gives the full reading of this building as Hoashi-ke bunke jutaku (Shōseki Furōkan) shuoku.
- Can you visit the Hoashi Family Branch Residence (Shoseki Furokan) Main House?
- The interior is not open to the public. You can see the exterior from the road that runs along the east side of the property.
Basic Information
| Name | Hoashi Family Branch Residence (Shoseki Furokan) Main House (帆足家分家住宅（松石不老館）主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 4361 Oaza Nakahetsugi, Oita City, Oita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 44-0103 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2005/11/10 (Heisei 17) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, 2 stories, tiled roof, building area 212 square metres; 8 and a half by 6 bays |
| Owner | Not listed in the ACA database |
| Public Access | Not open to the public; exterior visible from the road to the east |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: 帆足家分家住宅（松石不老館）主屋
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005058
- Cultural Heritage Online: 帆足家分家住宅（松石不老館）主屋
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/140828
- Oita City: History and Culture of Hetsugi Honmachi (in Japanese)
- https://www.city.oita.oita.jp/o204/machizukuri/toshi/1014449890810.html
Last verified: 2026.09.25
