Togei Family Residence Well

What Is the Togei Family Residence Well?

The Togei Family Residence Well (東迎家住宅井戸, Tōgei-ke Jūtaku Ido) is a household well cut into limestone in the early Meiji period in the Sonai settlement of Yonaguni Town, Okinawa Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on March 7, 2008.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to "early Meiji" and, in the Western-calendar field, gives the broad span 1868 to 1911 rather than a single year. Either way, the well is older than the house it serves. The present Main House of the Togei homestead was built in 1953; the Togei Family Residence Well lies to its southwest and had been supplying the plot for decades before that.

Five structures on this homestead in Sonai, the main village on Yonaguni's north coast, were registered on the same day: the main house, this well, a large stone basin called an ichitarai, a rainwater tank and a stone wall. Only two of the five date from the Meiji era, the well and the large ichitarai on the east side of the plot.

Why It Was Registered

The Togei Family Residence Well is listed under the criterion of structures that "contribute to the historic landscape of the country." Among Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, this is the category for things valued less for their design than for the way they anchor a place.

On Yonaguni that place is built on Ryukyu limestone, the uplifted coral rock that underlies much of the Ryukyu Islands. Limestone of this kind generally lets rainwater drain straight through, so fresh water does not collect on the surface. To reach it, the household cut a cylindrical shaft 13 meters down into the rock.

The well was renovated in the middle decades of the Showa era, and what stands today is a concrete structure over the Meiji-period shaft. Two eras of work meet in a single well. Its registration number is 47-0063, in the middle of the homestead's run of 47-0061 through 47-0065.

What to Look For

A Narrow Wellhead over a Deep Shaft

Above ground, the wellhead is a small cylinder 0.6 meters across and 0.62 meters high, reaching only about knee to thigh height. The modest collar gives little hint of the 13-meter shaft below it.

The Washing Floor and a Small Ichitarai

Around the wellhead is a washing floor measuring 2.2 meters north to south and 3.3 meters east to west, and in one corner sits a small ichitarai (石盥), a basin carved from stone. The whole installation covers 8.5 square meters. According to the Agency's description, this was where the household washed farm produce and tools, so drawing water and cleaning up after field work happened in one spot.

The larger ichitarai on the east side of the plot is a separate registered structure, used as a firefighting reservoir. One small basin at the well, one large basin to the east: the Togei homestead kept two stone water vessels for two very different jobs.

Water on the West Side of the House

The Togei Family Residence Well lies southwest of the main house, while the concrete rainwater tank stands against the west wall of the kitchen. Groundwater from the well and rain off the roof were both collected on the west side of the house.

Visiting the Togei Family Residence Well

The Togei Family Residence Well is on the grounds of a private home and is not open to the public. The Yonaguni Tourism Association lists no visiting arrangements (checked September 2026). The well sits inside the plot, southwest of the main house.

If you are walking through Sonai, stay on the public road, do not enter the property and avoid photographing into it.

Flights on Ryukyu Air Commuter reach Yonaguni in about 30 minutes from Ishigaki (3 a day) and about 1 hour 20 minutes from Naha. The Ferry Yonakuni runs twice a week from Ishigaki and takes about 4 hours. A free town bus connects Sonai, Kubura and Higawa, and rental cars are available on the island.