The House That Weighed the Rice
The Ryukyu Mura Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House is a single-storey timber dwelling of the Meiji period in Yamada, Onna Village, Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 15 May 2007.
The Shimabukuro family held the office of weigher for grain paid to the Ryukyu court. Rice collected as tax was measured and recorded in this house. The family oversaw the Haneji district, and Ryukyu Mura records that as many as 16 people, relatives and household staff together, were living here before the war.
The house went up around 1887 at Haneji in what is now Nago City. In 1982 it was taken apart, carried south to Onna Village, and reassembled on its present site.
Eaves on All Four Sides
The Ryukyu Mura Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House runs 14.5 metres along the front and 7.3 metres deep, with a building area of 145 square metres. That makes it the largest of the houses at Ryukyu Mura. The roof is hipped and tiled in red.
What sets it apart is how the eaves are handled. An amahaji is the deep projecting eave of an Okinawan house together with the sheltered strip beneath it, the building's answer to hard sun and rain blown sideways. Most houses have one on two faces, typically south and east. This house carries an amahaji right around all four sides, supported on posts of inumaki podocarp, a timber prized in Okinawa for resisting rot, water and termites.
The two formal rooms lie on the southwest, each about 8.2 square metres, with the back rooms east and the third room and kitchen to the north. In the earth-floored kitchen the beams keep their natural curve rather than being squared off. Ryukyu Mura notes that the posts and beams use heartwood from mature inumaki and itajii trees.
The registration criterion was that the structure serves as a model of design: an unusually complete example of the traditional Okinawan house form.
Four Stoves and a Sunken Hearth
Four kamado stoves stand in the kitchen, more than any other house in the park. Feeding 16 people at a sitting, with extra hands at harvest, explains the arithmetic.
There is also a sunken hearth, which was not common in Meiji-period Okinawan houses and marks a household of some standing. It gave heat, a cooking fire and light at once. In the nibanza sits an Okinawan butsudan, an ancestral altar of three plain tiers. Ancestors here are venerated as deities rather than simply mourned, and the altar occupies the middle of the house accordingly.
Still in Use as a Stage
The Ryukyu Mura Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House is not roped off as an exhibit. Folk song and Ryukyuan dance are performed here at 11:00, 13:30 and 15:00, with the sanshin sounding in the matted rooms, so you hear the building as well as see it. Weather and bookings can move a performance to another venue.
Between shows, walk the outside first and follow the amahaji all the way round, watching the spacing of the posts and the reach of the eaves. Go in afterwards and the reason the house feels so large becomes clear. Photography is allowed. The building has also served as a location for a Chinese and Taiwanese television drama.
Directions, opening hours and admission for the park are set out on the Ryukyu Mura page.
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Q&A
- Whose house was the Ryukyu Mura Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House?
- It belonged to a family that served as official weighers of grain paid to the Ryukyu court and oversaw the Haneji district. As many as 16 people lived here before the war.
- When was the Ryukyu Mura Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House built and moved?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives around 1887 for construction and 1982 for the relocation. It originally stood at Haneji in present-day Nago City.
- What should visitors look for at the Ryukyu Mura Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House?
- The amahaji eaves running around all four sides on inumaki posts, the four kamado stoves and sunken hearth in the kitchen, and the curved beams left unsquared over the earth floor.
- Are performances held at the Ryukyu Mura Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House?
- Folk song and Ryukyuan dance are staged at 11:00, 13:30 and 15:00. Bookings and weather can move a show to another venue, so check the notices on the day.
- How large is the Ryukyu Mura Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House?
- It measures 14.5 metres by 7.3 metres with a building area of 145 square metres, the largest of the houses at Ryukyu Mura.
Basic Information
| Name | Ryukyu Mura Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House (琉球村旧島袋家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1130 Yamada, Onna Village, Kunigami District, Okinawa Prefecture (inside Ryukyu Mura) |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 47-0025 |
| Year Designated | Registered 15 May 2007, gazetted 29 May 2007 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber frame, tiled roof, building area 145 sq m (14.5 m by 7.3 m) |
| Owner | Takoyama Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Viewable with paid admission to Ryukyu Mura (9:30 to 17:00, last admission 16:00, open daily) |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005956
- Japan Cultural Properties Information Site: Former Shimabukuro Family Residence Main House
- https://onna.hiddenheritage.jp/6
- Ryukyu Mura: Former Shimabukuro House
- https://www.ryukyumura.co.jp/facilities/simabukuro/
- Ryukyu Mura performance schedule
- https://www.ryukyumura.co.jp/showtime/
Last verified: 2026.09.13
