Himei Family Residence

What the Himei Family Residence Is

The Himei Family Residence is a physician family's estate in Kamogata, Asakuchi City, Okayama Prefecture, whose main house of the late Edo period (1751 to 1830) and early Meiji gate were registered as national Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on March 26, 2015.

In Japanese it is Himei-ke Jūtaku (姫井家住宅). The Himei were a family of doctors from the Edo period onward and served as physicians to the lords of the Kamogata domain. The estate stands in the Nakayama district about 1 kilometer north of JR Kamogata Station on the San'yō Main Line, with a long gatehouse facing the street and the main house behind it.

Okayama Prefecture and the Takahashi River Basin League both present the Himei Family Residence as a place to understand how a country doctor in modern Japan ran a practice from his own home. What makes it worth recording is the combination: an Edo-period house with its formal rooms intact, a consulting room added in the Taishō era, and the gatehouse that frames them from the street.

A Doctor's Household

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the main house to the late Edo period (1751 to 1830), with alterations in the late Meiji period (1898 to 1912) and in 1914. The 1914 work added a consulting room with a Western-style exterior to the east side of the house, so that a modern clinic was joined directly onto a Japanese family home.

The gatehouse is dated to the early Meiji period (1868 to 1882). It is younger than the house, but it is the face the Himei Family Residence shows to the street. Okayama Prefecture credits its plastered walls and rows of lattice windows with giving the estate a dignified presence in the townscape.

Both buildings were registered under the criterion that they contribute to the historic landscape of the country.

The Two Registered Buildings

• Main house (registration no. 33-0272): single-storey timber building with a partial second floor, tiled roof, building area 335 square meters. Formal and service entrances sit side by side at the center of the front, with reception rooms to the west and the Western-style consulting room to the east
• Nagayamon gatehouse (registration no. 33-0273): two-storey timber building, tiled roof, building area 111 square meters. It faces south on a stone wall along the front road, with the gate opening in its western half

Both were registered on March 26, 2015, under consecutive numbers. The owner field in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database is blank, and the Takahashi River Basin League lists the owner as a private individual.

Layout of the Estate

According to Okayama Prefecture, the main house stands near the middle of the plot facing south, so that passing through the gatehouse brings you straight toward its entrance. Reception rooms lie on the west side of the house, the Western-style wing on the east, a kitchen with an earthen floor to the northeast, and a two-storey annex to the northwest, with a small courtyard garden between the reception rooms and the annex.

The garden that wraps around the house holds about 60 azaleas, including Kirishima and Hirado varieties. They usually bloom from mid to late April, and the regional newspaper San'yō Shimbun has reported on the red and white flowers against the Japanese and Western buildings.

Getting to the Himei Family Residence and What You Can See

The Himei Family Residence is still a private home and is not open to the public. Okayama Prefecture and the Takahashi River Basin League both state that only the exterior of the gatehouse can be seen, from the road. Because the main house stands behind the gatehouse, little of it is visible from outside.

The exception has been azalea season. The San'yō Shimbun reported that in April 2026 the family opened the garden free of charge from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for people who wished to see the flowers. Whether and when this happens varies from year to year, so check the latest information before planning a spring visit. There is no published guidance on photography; please be considerate of the residents.

The Himei Family Residence is about a 15-minute walk or an 8-minute drive from JR Kamogata Station. No dedicated parking is advertised.