Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall Museum (Former Arinaga Residence Main House)

The Main House of a Headman's Estate

The Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall Museum (Former Arinaga Residence Main House) (国見ふるさと展示館資料館（旧有永邸主屋）) is the main house of a village headman's estate of the early Meiji era in Kibe, Kunimi-machi, Kunisaki City, Oita Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on December 4, 2000 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is the core building of the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall (国見ふるさと展示館, Kunimi Furusato Tenjikan) and is also referred to as the Former Arinaga Residence Main House (旧有永邸主屋, Kyū Arinaga-tei Shuoku).

The Agency records a 2-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 343 square metres, registered as contributing to the historic landscape of the country; registration number 44-0046.

According to the Agency, the house belonged to Arinaga Saburō of Shimo-Kibe village, who served as a sōdai shōya, a headman representing several villages, at the end of the Edo period. It stands near the middle of the plot and faces west. The ground floor is now a local history museum and the upper floor a gallery.

A Swelling Hip-and-Gable Roof over a Six-Room Plan

The Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall Museum (Former Arinaga Residence Main House) has a hip-and-gable roof (Irimoya-zukuri) given a gentle upward swell, or mukuri, between ridge and eaves; the Agency calls it bold and generous. A pent roof (Hisashi) runs around all four sides, so a second line of eaves wraps the house below the main roof.

Inside, the rooms follow the Rokumadori plan of 6 rooms (Agency for Cultural Affairs). At 343 square metres it is the largest of the 4 registered Arinaga buildings, nearly twice the 186 square metres of the detached house; the storehouse covers 150 square metres and the stable 81 square metres.

The Agency's entries for the other buildings add that a guest bathroom at the south-east corner of the main house led to the detached house by a covered corridor, and that the storehouse stands east of the earth-floored passage at the service end of the house.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency registered the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall Museum (Former Arinaga Residence Main House) as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. It is the heart of a headman's estate: the large hip-and-gable roof set in the middle of the plot anchors the detached house, storehouse and stable around it.

The 4 Arinaga buildings carry consecutive registration numbers from 44-0046 to 44-0049, and the main house holds the first.

Bought by the Town, Reopened as a Museum

According to an Oita Prefecture bulletin, the town of Kunimi (now part of Kunisaki City) bought the old headman's house, restored it and opened it as the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall in October 1997. The Arinaga main house is the centre of that complex, and its registration followed 3 years later.

What to Look For

Outside, stand at the west front and follow the roofline: the swelling hip-and-gable roof and the pent roof circling beneath it give the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall Museum (Former Arinaga Residence Main House) its two-tiered profile.

The ground-floor museum displays material on Father Petro Kasui Kibe, a native of Kunimi said to have been the first Japanese to visit Jerusalem, and the upper gallery hosts exhibitions of paintings and other work (Tourism Oita).

Visiting

The Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall Museum (Former Arinaga Residence Main House) is open as the museum and gallery of the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall, and visitors can see the interior on opening days for the admission fee. No official notice says whether photography is allowed inside.

Hours, admission, closing days and driving directions are covered on the overview page for the Kunimi Furusato Exhibition Hall (Former Arinaga Residence).