Former Sho Family Residence Zashiki Wing

What Is the Former Sho Family Residence Zashiki Wing?

The Former Sho Family Residence Zashiki Wing is a 2-storey timber reception wing of a village headman's house in Shimoazae, Maniwa City, Okayama Prefecture, built in 1825 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on February 17, 2022.

In Japanese it is 旧荘家住宅座敷棟 (Kyū Shō-ke Jūtaku Zashiki-mune). Shō is the family name, and the place name 呰部 is read Azae. Shimoazae was the center of the former town of Hokubō, and the Former Sho Family Residence Zashiki Wing faces east onto the Hakuun Ōrai, a road that led toward the old provinces of Hōki and Izumo.

The Shō family served as Shōya, hereditary village headmen, throughout the Edo period, and this wing was part of their house. A ridge tag (munafuda) left in the roof dates the building to 1825. The current owner, Satoyama Agri Co., Ltd., says the house has had several partial repairs but that its main structure is close to its original state. The Agency for Cultural Affairs also records work in 2014.

Today Satoyama Agri runs the building as Hokubō Hotaru-an, a Japanese restaurant in an old house that also serves as the dining room for the neighboring Satoyama Satoumi Exchange Center, known as Shinpio. The zashiki, the formal tatami rooms where a headman's family once received guests, are now open to anyone who comes to eat.

Why the Former Sho Family Residence Zashiki Wing Is Registered

The Former Sho Family Residence Zashiki Wing is entry 33-0349 in the national register, added in the 101st round of registrations in 2022 under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The agency records a 2-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 170 square meters.

According to the agency, the building has a hip-and-gable roof (Irimoya-zukuri) laid with pantiles, with its long side and main entrance facing the road (Hirairi), and an entrance porch projecting at the southeast corner. On the ground floor, an earthen-floored work area (Doma) runs along the south side, while 4 rooms in 2 rows fill the north side, opening one into the next toward the garden on the east. Upstairs, another suite of connected zashiki sits toward the back.

The registration rests on how the building looks from the road. Its outer walls are Ōkabe, with the posts hidden under thick coats of Shikkui lime plaster, and the agency says this solid, white exterior shapes the streetscape along the Hakuun Ōrai. A late Edo headman's reception wing still in use on its original roadside site is what earned it a place on the register.

What to Look For at the Sho Family Zashiki Wing

The white front on the old road

The Former Sho Family Residence Zashiki Wing faces east, so from the road you see the plastered walls and the broad hip-and-gable roof. With no exposed posts, the facade feels heavier than the latticed fronts of ordinary townhouses. The entrance projecting at the southeast corner tells you where guests were meant to go in.

4 connected tatami rooms

Inside, the highlight is the set of 4 rooms arranged in 2 rows on the north side. They line up toward the east garden, so you can read the scale of a headman's reception space as you move through them. The agency's photo record includes the northeast room on the ground floor.

The east garden and the upper rooms

The connected rooms are laid out to look onto the garden to the east. Another suite of zashiki occupies the back of the upper floor, so the building stacks reception rooms on both levels.

The earthen floor to the south

The doma on the south side has a different character from the tatami rooms. Walking through, notice how the building keeps the earthen floor and the formal rooms under one roof while gathering the zashiki on the garden side.

Visiting the Former Sho Family Residence Zashiki Wing

The Former Sho Family Residence Zashiki Wing is not run as a heritage site but as the restaurant Hokubō Hotaru-an, so you go inside as a diner. According to its website, lunch is served 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and dinner 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.; dinner must be booked by 2:00 p.m. on the day. The restaurant closes every Tuesday. Bookings and inquiries: 0866-52-2600. The Maniwa tourism bureau also lists the first Monday of each month as a closing day, so check ahead if you plan to visit on a Monday.

No photography policy is published, so ask the staff before taking pictures inside. The exterior can be seen from the road at any time.

By public transport, take a bus bound for Azae from JR Mimasaka-Ochiai Station on the Kishin Line, about 35 minutes to the Azae terminus, and walk from there. Buses for Azae also run from JR Bitchu-Takahashi Station on the Hakubi Line, about 40 minutes. Both routes are infrequent, so check the timetable first. By car it is about 10 minutes from the Hokubō interchange on the Chugoku Expressway.