What the Himei Family Residence Main House Is
The Himei Family Residence Main House is a physician family's home of the late Edo period (1751 to 1830) in Kamogata, Asakuchi City, Okayama Prefecture, which gained a Western-style consulting room in 1914 and was registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 26, 2015.
In Japanese it is Himei-ke Jūtaku Shuoku (姫井家住宅主屋). It is the central building of the estate of the Himei, a family of doctors who served the lords of the Kamogata domain, and it stands near the middle of the plot facing south, behind the gatehouse on the street. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a single-storey timber house with a partial second floor and a tiled roof, covering 335 square meters. In traditional measure it is seven ken wide and five ken deep (a ken is roughly 1.8 meters).
The house has more than one date. The agency places its construction in the late Edo period and notes alterations in the late Meiji period (1898 to 1912) and again in 1914. Over that time a doctor's family home of the Edo period was reworked, twice, into the home and surgery of a modern country doctor.
Why the Himei Family Residence Main House Was Registered
The house was registered under the criterion that it contributes to the historic landscape of the country, with registration number 33-0272; the gatehouse was registered the same day as 33-0273.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs says the Himei Family Residence Main House preserves well the form of a provincial doctor's clinic. Okayama Prefecture makes the same point from another angle: the building shows how a country doctor in modern Japan ran his practice out of his own home. The Himei did not build a hospital. They turned one side of their house into a surgery, and that conversion survives intact.
What to Look For
Entrances and Roof
According to Okayama Prefecture, the center of the front has two entrances side by side: a formal entrance with a raised Shikidai step for guests, and an everyday entrance with an earthen floor. Having both on the main facade is typical of a house that received many visitors. The roof is laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles; the agency describes it as Irimoya-zukuri hip-and-gable, while the prefecture describes a combination of hip-and-gable and Yosemune-zukuri hipped forms.
The Reception Rooms
On the west side, two formal rooms with Zashiki-kazari alcove fittings project from the house. The prefecture notes that these rooms make heavy use of timber left with its rounded, bark-edged corners, a mark of sukiya taste, and that Chinese poems are carved into the Ranma transoms above the sliding doors. The carvings suggest a family with close ties to scholars and poets, not only to medicine.
The Consulting Room
On the east side juts the Western-style wing that served as the surgery. The Takahashi River Basin League states that it was added during the 1914 rebuilding, with a Western-looking exterior, and the San'yō Shimbun reports that it was used as a consulting room and operating room. With the reception rooms to the west and the clinic to the east, the family's private life and the doctor's working life sat at opposite ends of one connected house.
The prefecture also records 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.
Visiting the Himei Family Residence Main House
The Himei Family Residence is a private home, and the main house is not open to the public. Okayama Prefecture and the Takahashi River Basin League state that only the exterior of the gatehouse can be viewed, from the road. Because the Himei Family Residence Main House stands behind the gatehouse, it is barely visible from outside, and no openings of the interior rooms or the consulting room appear in the sources.
In years when the garden has opened free of charge during azalea season, visitors could probably see the exterior of the house up close from the garden that surrounds it. There is no published guidance on photography. Directions to the estate and past garden openings are covered on the Himei Family Residence page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Okayama
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Himei Family Residence Main House
- [ Kurashiki Bikan District & Korakuen Garden Tours ]
Q&A
- Can I visit the Himei Family Residence Main House?
- No. It is a private home. Only the exterior of the gatehouse can be seen from the road, and the main house stands behind it.
- When was the Himei Family Residence Main House built and registered?
- It dates from the late Edo period (1751 to 1830), with alterations in 1898 to 1912 and 1914. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 26, 2015.
- What was the Western-style wing of the Himei Family Residence Main House used for?
- It was the doctor's surgery, added in 1914 and reportedly used as a consulting room and operating room.
- What are the reception rooms of the Himei Family Residence Main House like?
- Two formal rooms with alcove fittings project on the west side. They use bark-edged timber in the sukiya manner, and the transoms are carved with Chinese poems.
- How large is the Himei Family Residence Main House?
- It is seven ken by five ken, a single-storey timber house with a partial second floor, covering 335 square meters.
Basic Information
| Name | Himei Family Residence Main House (姫井家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1342 Nakayama-dori, Kamogata, Kamogata-cho, Asakuchi City, Okayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered March 26, 2015 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 335 square meters (single-storey timber house with partial second floor, tiled roof, 7 by 5 ken) |
| Owner | Private (owner field blank in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (gatehouse exterior viewable from the road) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Himei Family Residence Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010510
- Himei Family Residence Main House (Cultural Heritage Online)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/248195
- Himei Family Residence: Main House and Nagayamon Gate (Okayama Prefecture, Registered Tangible Cultural Properties)
- https://www.pref.okayama.jp/uploaded/attachment/261021.pdf
- Himei Family Residence Main House and Nagayamon Gate (Takahashi River Basin League)
- https://takahashiryuiki.com/feature/%E9%AB%98%E6%A2%81%E5%B7%9D%E6%B5%81%E5%9F%9F%E3%81%AE%E6%8C%87%E5%AE%9A%E6%96%87%E5%8C%96%E8%B2%A1%EF%BC%88%E5%BB%BA%E9%80%A0%E7%89%A9%EF%BC%89/%E6%B5%85%E5%8F%A3%E5%B8%82/%E5%A7%AB%E4%BA%95%E5%AE%B6%E4%BD%8F%E5%AE%85%E4%B8%BB%E5%B1%8B%E5%8F%8A%E3%81%B3%E9%95%B7%E5%B1%8B%E9%96%80/
- Himei Family Residence, Asakuchi: a regional clinic in a family home (San'yō Shimbun Digital, July 27, 2025)
- https://www.sanyonews.jp/article/1765998
Last verified: 2026.10.03
