A House Whose Kitchen Stands Apart
Walk through the Ryukyu Kingdom Castle Town at Okinawa World and you pass a row of red-tiled homes that once stood in villages scattered across the islands. The former Irei Residence rewards a second look for a reason that is easy to miss: its kitchen is a separate building.
The living block, known in Okinawan as the ufuya, is a single-story timber house of about 7.6 by 6.8 meters, roofed with heavy red tile over a hipped frame. Attached to its south side is a smaller structure roughly 3.8 by 3.9 meters, the tongwa, or detached kitchen. This division of sleeping-and-living space from cooking space is the signature of the bunmunē, the "separated-building" type of Okinawan farmhouse. It is an older form that had mostly vanished by the twentieth century, as households pulled every function under a single roof.
Inside the ufuya, the plan reads from front to back: the ichibanza (the formal room where guests were received), the nibanza behind it, a board-floored itama, and two smaller uraza used as private back rooms. A low eaves gallery called the amahaji runs along the north side and across the east front. The amahaji is a defining feature of Okinawan houses. It shades the rooms from a fierce subtropical sun and absorbs wind-driven rain in a region that meets several typhoons a year.
From Izena Island to Okinawa World
The house was built in the late Meiji period, sometime between 1868 and 1911, on Izena, a small island off the northwest coast of Okinawa's main island. The Irei family was an established one there. An earlier head of the household served as deputy chief at the Izena village office, and the family carried the house-name Joyakuyā, from the word for that post. The original compound was ringed by a wall of rough-piled table-coral limestone, with a windbreak of fukugi trees planted along it, a standard defense against salt-laden island winds.
Like most traditional houses in the Ryukyus, the frame is a nukiya system, called nuchijā in the local dialect: holes are cut through the posts, tie-beams are threaded through them, and the joints are locked with wedges rather than nails. The red roof tiles were bedded in lime plaster, the usual method for holding a roof together through storm season.
The building was dismantled and moved to Okinawa World in 1995. In 2008 it was entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registration 47-0068), listed on April 18 and announced on May 7. The register, created by a 1996 revision of the cultural properties law, is a lighter designation than the older system of formally "designated" treasures. It is meant to protect buildings by keeping them in use, and the Irei house qualified as "a model of its kind" in design.
What to Look For
Today the house works as an indigo dyeing studio, where visitors can watch Ryukyu indigo being worked and try their own hand at it. That living use makes it easy to step in and study the building at close range.
Look first at the seam where the ufuya meets the tongwa. In most surviving Okinawan houses the kitchen has been absorbed into the main structure, so a clearly separate cooking wing is uncommon. Then step under the amahaji and notice how low and deep it sits, a shaded margin between the bright garden and the dim interior. The exposed frame overhead shows the wedged tie-beam joinery that let these houses flex rather than break in high wind.
The Irei Residence is one of five structures in this part of Okinawa World that were registered together in 2008: four former houses and one stone pig-privy. Each came from a different corner of the islands, so the group reads as a small cross-section of Okinawan domestic building.
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Q&A
- What makes this house different from other old Okinawan homes?
- Its kitchen is a separate building joined to the main house. This "separated-building" (bunmunē) layout is an archaic form that most Okinawan households had abandoned by the twentieth century, so intact examples are now scarce.
- Can visitors go inside?
- Yes. The house is used as an indigo dyeing studio inside Okinawa World, a paid attraction open year-round in Nanjo City. Access is by park ticket; hours follow the park's schedule, generally from morning to early evening.
- Where did the house originally stand?
- On Izena, a small island off the northwest tip of Okinawa's main island. It was moved to Okinawa World in 1995 and later registered as a cultural property in 2008.
- What is the amahaji?
- It is the deep, low eaves gallery that wraps a traditional Okinawan house. It shades the interior from strong sun and shields the rooms from wind and rain during the typhoon season.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Irei Residence Main House, Okinawa World (おきなわワールド旧伊礼家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1384 and vicinity, Aza Maekawa, Tamagusuku, Nanjo City, Okinawa (within Okinawa World) |
| Original site | Aza Izena, Izena Village, Okinawa |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building); registration no. 47-0068 |
| Registered | April 18, 2008 (announced May 7, 2008); criterion: a model of its kind |
| Date | Late Meiji period (1868–1911); relocated 1995 |
| Structure | Single-story timber, tile roof; building area approx. 88 m²; separated-building (bunmunē) type with ufuya and tongwa |
| Owner | Nanto Co., Ltd. |
| Access | Inside Okinawa World; roughly 30 minutes by car from Naha Airport. Currently used as an indigo dyeing studio. |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Former Irei Residence Main House, Okinawa World
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00007160
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Irei Residence Main House, Okinawa World
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/172462
- Okinawa World Official Site: Registered Tangible Cultural Property Houses
- https://www.gyokusendo.co.jp/okinawaworld/culturalproperties/
Last verified: 2026.07.02