A Showa Reception Wing Behind the Main House
Hoashi Family Main Residence (Fushunkan) Annex (帆足家本家住宅（富春館）離れ) is a single-storey timber reception wing of 1937 in Nakahetsugi, Oita City, Oita Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006.
It is the youngest of the estate's eight registered parts, added some 70 years after the main house. It stands north of the main house and measures 4 by 4 and a half bays, 78 square metres in all, under a hipped Yosemune-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. A corridor on its south side leads back to the main house; at the centre of the north side is a formal Zashiki of eight tatami mats.
The arrangement is a familiar one in prosperous Japanese houses: a single fine room set apart at the back, away from the family's daily life, for receiving guests. The city tourist association lists the annex room under the name 半耕 as part of the gallery.
Why It Was Registered
Like the main house, Hoashi Family Main Residence (Fushunkan) Annex was registered as difficult to reproduce. Where the gates and storehouses were valued as parts of the scene, the annex was judged on the quality of the building itself.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes modern touches in the alcove, but describes the room as built in the manner of a Shoin-zukuri study-reception room, with good timber and outstanding design and workmanship. Reception rooms of the early Shōwa years commonly kept to the old shoin forms while letting new taste into the alcove fittings and joinery, and the Hoashi annex fits that pattern.
A single corridor connects it with the main house. Walk it and you cross some seven decades of Japanese domestic building in a few paces.
What to Look For
Begin with the corridor. You enter it from the north side of the main house, the opposite end from the formal entrance, so the walk feels like going deeper into the household. It makes plain how deliberately the annex was set apart.
In the eight-mat room, look closely at the Tokonoma and its surrounds, the part the Agency describes as showing modern features. Compare it with the reception room in the main house and the difference of era is easy to see.
Then look at the timber of the posts, rails and ceiling boards. The Agency comments on the quality of the wood, and the evenness of grain and colour is where the owner's eye shows.
Visiting
Hoashi Family Main Residence (Fushunkan) Annex is used, with the main house, as exhibition space for Gallery Fushunkan, open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and closed Mondays and Tuesdays (the following day when a public holiday falls on either). During opening hours you can step up into the room.
What you find inside depends on the current exhibition. Check with staff before photographing the displays. From the outside the annex is best seen from the north side of the main house; from the south garden the main house hides it almost entirely.
Directions and general visiting conditions for the estate are on the Hoashi Family Main Residence (Fushunkan) page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Oita
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Q&A
- Can you go inside Hoashi Family Main Residence (Fushunkan) Annex?
- Yes. It is used with the main house as a gallery and can be visited from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It closes Mondays and Tuesdays, or the following day when a public holiday falls on either.
- When was Hoashi Family Main Residence (Fushunkan) Annex built?
- In 1937. It is the newest of the eight registered structures on the Hoashi estate.
- What kind of building is the Fushunkan annex?
- A single-storey timber reception wing north of the main house, 4 by 4 and a half bays and 78 square metres, with a corridor to the main house on the south and an eight-mat room at the centre of the north side.
- What should I look at in the Hoashi annex?
- The alcove of the eight-mat room, shoin-style but with modern touches, the quality of the timber, and the corridor that links it with the main house.
- Why is the Fushunkan annex a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered as difficult to reproduce, for its careful shoin-style workmanship, good timber and high standard of design.
Basic Information
| Name | Hoashi Family Main Residence (Fushunkan) Annex |
|---|---|
| Location | 4381-1 Nakahetsugi, Oita City, Oita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2006/11/29 (Heisei 18) |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | Timber, single storey, tiled roof, building area 78 square metres |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Open as a gallery, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; closed Mondays and Tuesdays |
References
- National Designated Cultural Properties Database, Hoashi Family Main Residence (Fushunkan) Annex (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006078
- Cultural Heritage Online, Hoashi Family Main Residence (Fushunkan) Annex
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/185983
- List of Nationally Designated and Selected Cultural Properties (Oita Prefecture)
- https://www.pref.oita.jp/kyoiku/tmp/bunka/post-101/1.pdf
- Gallery Fushunkan (Hoashi Honke)
- https://www.hoashi-honke.com/gallery.html
- Hoashi Honke (Fushunkan and Garden) (Oita City Tourist Association)
- https://www.oishiimati-oita.jp/spot/374
Last verified: 2026.09.26
