A Registered Well in the Middle of a Hita Townhouse Plot
The Well of the Yamada Family Residence (山田家住宅井戸, Yamada-ke Jūtaku Ido) is a late Edo period stone well at Kuma 1-214-1 in the city of Hita, Ōita Prefecture, entered on Japan's register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 23 October 2008. The Agency for Cultural Affairs assigns it to the second half of the Edo period, between 1751 and 1829.
It sits behind the main house, near the centre of the plot. The curb is built of cut andesite quarried locally, the blocks joined by half-lap rebates cut into their meeting faces so that each stone locks into its neighbour without mortar. The frame measures 1.4 metres square and stands 0.6 metres high.
What lifts this beyond an ordinary well is what surrounds it. A footing stone is set on the west side, and around the curb a paved washing area extends 2.8 metres east to west and 2.2 metres north to south. Over the whole thing stands a small shelter: posts rise directly from the well frame, and bracket arms carry a gabled roof. The registered area is 1.8 square metres.
The Agency's records give the quantity as one unit and classify it not as a building but as a structure of another kind. It was, in other words, listed as a piece of equipment. Very few pieces of household equipment make it onto the national register at all.
Water, and Why a Well Was Worth Registering
Hita occupies a basin where the Ōyama and Kusu rivers meet to form the Mikuma, which flows on to become the Chikugo, the largest river system in Kyūshū. The basin floor holds a generous body of groundwater, and the city's older industries, sake and soy sauce brewing among them, grew on the back of it. A house in Kuma did not have to dig far.
The register listed the well under the criterion covering structures that contribute to the historic landscape of the nation. This is the same criterion applied to the Yamada storehouse and to the riverside stone wall, and it points to a judgement about the property as a whole rather than about the well in isolation. Four structures were registered together in the 61st round of listings, announced on 10 November 2008: the main house of 1816, the storehouse of 1921, the stone wall and brick fence facing the river, and this well.
Wells of this age tend to survive as a curb and nothing else, the surrounding fittings swept away when a household switched to piped supply in the twentieth century. Here the arrangement remains legible: the drawing point, the stone on which a bucket or a foot could rest, the paved area where washing was done, and the roof that kept leaves and rain out of the shaft. It records how a household actually organised its water rather than merely proving that water was drawn.
One point deserves flagging. The Agency's database shows registration number 44-0162 for this well, and shows the same number for the storehouse. Municipal and prefectural lists give the Yamada group as four items registered on the same date, so the duplication looks like a clerical matter in the database rather than a substantive one, and anyone citing the number should check with the Hita city cultural properties division.
What a Visitor Can Realistically See
The honest answer is: not this. The well stands behind the main house on private land, no owner is recorded in the national database, and the property appears on no list of cultural properties open to the public in Hita. There is no viewing arrangement, no opening season and no admission procedure. Photographing into the plot from the street would be an intrusion on a working household.
That is worth stating plainly rather than leaving a visitor to discover it at the gate.
What is accessible is the street frontage of the main house, 22 metres of plastered wall with a low eave line, and the stone retaining wall along the Mikuma River at the rear of the plot, which can be seen from public ground and from the pleasure boats that work the river in summer. Together they frame the well without revealing it.
For anyone who wants to see a comparable Edo period well fitting rather than merely read about one, the Mameda district about two kilometres north preserves a dense group of merchant houses within a nationally selected preservation district, and several of its properties do open to visitors. The Tenryō Hita Museum there covers the townspeople's culture of the shogunal domain. Hita Station is roughly 1.5 kilometres from Kuma, about twenty minutes on foot, and the two districts can be combined in a half day.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Oita
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Yamada Family Residence Well
- [ Beppu Hell Tour & Yufuin Onsen Hot Springs ]
Q&A
- How old is the Yamada Family Residence Well?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the later Edo period, giving a range of 1751 to 1829. That places it somewhat earlier than the main house on the same plot, which was built in 1816.
- What is the Yamada Family Residence Well made of, and how big is it?
- The curb is cut andesite from local quarries, assembled with half-lap joints, measuring 1.4 metres square and 0.6 metres high. A stone-paved washing area of 2.8 by 2.2 metres surrounds it, under a gabled shelter carried on bracket arms. The registered area is 1.8 square metres.
- Can the Yamada Family Residence Well be visited?
- No. It stands on private land behind the main house, and no public opening has been announced. The property is not listed among Hita's cultural property facilities open to visitors.
- When was the Yamada Family Residence Well registered, and under what criterion?
- Registration was decided on 23 October 2008 and announced on 10 November 2008, in the 61st round, under the criterion for structures contributing to the historic landscape of the nation.
- Where is the Yamada Family Residence Well, and what is nearby?
- Kuma 1-214-1, Hita, about 1.5 kilometres south of JR Hita Station on the Kyūdai Main Line. The Reimeikan community centre of 1916 and the registered Gotō Family Residence are both a short walk away in the same district.
Basic Information
| Name | Yamada-ke Jūtaku Ido (山田家住宅井戸), Well of the Yamada Family Residence |
|---|---|
| Location | Kuma 1-214-1, Hita, Ōita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structures); criterion: contributes to the historic landscape of the nation |
| Year Designated | Registered 23 October 2008; announced 10 November 2008 (61st round) |
| Quantity | 1 unit |
| Dimensions | Cut stone; area 1.8 m²; curb 1.4 m square and 0.6 m high; paved washing area 2.8 m east-west by 2.2 m north-south; gabled shelter above |
| Owner | Private; no owner recorded in the national database |
| Public Access | Not open; stands on private land behind the main house |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Yamada-ke Jūtaku Ido
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007436
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Yamada-ke Jūtaku Shuoku (main house)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007434
- City of Hita — list of nationally designated, selected and registered cultural properties (PDF)
- https://www.city.hita.oita.jp/uploaded/attachment/4574.pdf
- City of Hita — cultural property facilities open to the public
- https://www.city.hita.oita.jp/soshiki/29/2202.html
- Ōita Prefectural Board of Education — list of nationally designated and selected cultural properties (PDF)
- https://www.pref.oita.jp/kyoiku/tmp/bunka/post-101/1.pdf
Last verified: 2026.08.04