Takemoto Family Residence (Niimi)

A Meiji-era farmstead in the hills of Chiya

The Takemoto Family Residence (竹本家住宅, Takemoto-ke Jūtaku) is a farmstead in Chiyasane, Niimi City, Okayama Prefecture, whose main house and combined row house and rice storehouse, both built around 1897, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan on April 25, 2014.

Okayama Prefecture describes the Takemoto Family Residence as a farmhouse in the mountains of the prefecture's far north. The family grew prosperous through farming, forestry, livestock and silk farming, and one of its members served as mayor of the former village of Chiya.

Niimi City's heritage database adds that the household was known by the house name 下大前 and had lived in Chiya since the Edo period. Besides working the fields and woods, the Takemotos traded in Chiya cattle, the local strain of black Wagyu, and raised silkworms.

Another Takemoto Family Residence, also a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, stands in Kaizuka, Osaka Prefecture. It is a separate property with no connection to the farmstead in Chiyasane.

How the Takemoto Family Residence is laid out

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the main house of the Takemoto Family Residence stands near the middle of the plot and faces east, while the row house and rice storehouse occupies the southeast corner. The family's living quarters sit at the center, with the service building pushed out to the edge.

The main house has a building area of 182 square meters under a hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) roof. The row house and rice storehouse covers 63 square meters and rises 2 storeys. Both are roofed with interlocking pan tiles (Sangawara-buki).

Both buildings are dated to around 1897, and the national database also records renovation work around 1991. Okayama Prefecture notes that the Takemoto Family Residence stood empty from 1955 onward until March 1991, when it reopened as Irori no Ie, a farm-stay lodge for visitors who wanted a taste of rural life. The renovation and the second life as a guesthouse belong to the same year.

Why the Takemoto Family Residence was registered

The Council for Cultural Affairs recommended both buildings for registration on November 15, 2013, and they were entered in the 77th round of registrations on April 25, 2014, as Nos. 33-0253 (main house) and 33-0254 (row house and rice storehouse). Each qualifies under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

The Council's summary singles out plasterwork as the common thread. On the main house, red and blue colored plaster and relief work shaped like pilasters enliven the walls. On the rice storehouse, a band decorated with the matsukawabishi pattern, stacked diamonds said to resemble pine bark, runs above the base of the wall. It is the pairing of two buildings finished with this much care by plasterers that earned the registration.

The owner field is blank for both buildings in the Agency's database. Niimi City lists the owner as a private individual.

Visiting the Takemoto Family Residence

Niimi City lists both buildings of the Takemoto Family Residence as viewable from the outside only. Neither the city nor the prefecture publishes opening days, hours or admission fees for the interiors.

The prefectural leaflet still describes the house as the Irori no Ie guesthouse, but the leaflet is undated, and it could not be confirmed that overnight stays are still offered. For questions about the interiors, the Lifelong Learning Division of the Niimi City Board of Education, which handles cultural properties, is the place to ask.

The Takemoto Family Residence is privately owned. Please view it from the road and do not enter the grounds. No rules on photography are published, so keep any photos to the exterior and avoid capturing the residents.

Okayama Prefecture gives the journey as about 30 minutes by car from Niimi Station on the JR Hakubi Line. Neither the prefecture nor the city describes a public transport route.