Kinjo Masuharu Family Residence

What Is the Kinjo Masuharu Family Residence?

The Kinjo Masuharu Family Residence (金城増治家住宅, Kinjō Masuharu-ke Jūtaku) is a family homestead in Makabe, Itoman City, Okinawa Prefecture, whose red-tiled main house of around 1891 and its stone wall, well and furu became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2005.

Locally the house goes by its yagō, or household name, Chinaa (喜納, the Okinawan reading of Kina). It stands at 223 Makabe, in the middle of a village that the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes as having taken shape under the Ryukyu Kingdom. Because the three stone structures around the house were registered along with it, the Kinjo Masuharu Family Residence can be read as a whole homestead rather than as a single building.

A House Said to Have Been Moved from Tamagusuku

According to a village guide map published by the Itoman City Board of Education, the buildings of the Kinjo Masuharu Family Residence were put up around 1891 in Tamagusuku, now part of Nanjo City, and later moved to Makabe. That is how the story has been handed down; we found no record of when or why the move was made.

The same guide map identifies the house as the home of Kinjo Masutaro, who served as mayor of Makabe Village and then of Miwa Village in the years around the Battle of Okinawa. From 1946 until about 1950 the house was the Miwa Village office, and afterwards it was used as a clinic. For a few years after the war, local government and medical care in this corner of the island ran out of a family home.

Since 1998 the main house has been a small family-run eatery called Makabe Chinaa. The owners describe it as the home of the proprietor's great-grandfather.

Four Registrations

The main house of the Kinjo Masuharu Family Residence was registered first, on 12 July 2005, in the 46th round of listings. The stone wall, the well and the furu followed on 10 November 2005, in the 47th round. Their registration numbers run consecutively from 47-0003 to 47-0006, very early numbers among the Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (buildings) of Okinawa Prefecture. The Agency's database gives the following details.

• Main house: single-storey timber building with a tiled roof, building area 108 square meters; registered as a model of form
• Stone wall: stone, 30 meters long; registered for its contribution to the historic landscape
• Well: stone, 2.1 square meters; same criterion
• Furu: stone, 7.3 square meters; same criterion

All four are dated to around 1891. For the wall, the well and the furu, the Agency uses the same phrase, valuing each as one of the elements that make up the homestead. The point is less the individual structure than the fact that the parts of the household have survived together.

Layout of the Homestead

The plot of the Kinjo Masuharu Family Residence faces south, and the main house sits in the middle of it, also facing south. Along the front boundary runs the stone wall, 30 meters long, with earth banked up behind it and planted as a hedge.

West of the main house are the furu and the well. A furu is a stone enclosure that served as both pigsty and toilet; the village guide map calls this one a wā-fūru. The well lies further west, close to the edge of the property. The house is at the center, water and livestock are grouped on the west side, and the stone wall closes off the front. Registering all four structures keeps that arrangement intact.

Visiting and Getting There

The Kinjo Masuharu Family Residence is privately owned. The only way into the grounds is as a customer of Makabe Chinaa, which operates in the main house. According to the owners, it is open from 11:00 a.m. to about 4:00 p.m. and closed on Sundays and Mondays. It may close early when food runs out, and there are occasional extra closures. The official blog was last updated in 2025, so it is worth calling ahead (098-997-3207). Outside opening hours the property is a private home; please do not enter.

The stone wall faces the village lane, so it can be seen from the road on any day.

By public transport, take Ryukyu Bus routes 107 or 108 (the Southern Loop) from Itoman Bus Terminal and get off at the Makabe stop. Buses are infrequent, so check times in advance on Busnavi Okinawa.