Yagi Family Residence Main House

What Is the Yagi Family Residence Main House?

The Yagi Family Residence Main House (屋宜家住宅主屋, Yagi-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) in Ōton, Yaese Town, Shimajiri District, Okinawa Prefecture, is a red-tiled farmhouse built in 1952 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 2, 2009.

Okinawans call a house roofed in red clay tiles a kaarayaa, and this is one. It was put up shortly after the war by Yagi Matsu, the first head of the household in this line. The national record describes a one-story timber building of 77 square meters. It was registered together with the asagi, well, hinpun and stone wall of the same homestead, and of those five it is the only one registered under the criterion of serving as a model of design.

Why the Main House Was Registered

The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out the Yagi Family Residence Main House as a building that keeps the character of its region. It measures 13 meters across the front by 6.6 meters deep. The Yosemune-zukuri is covered in red tiles, and every joint between the tiles is sealed with white lime plaster, a finish called me-shikkui. Deep eaves known as Amahaji run along the south and east sides.

Inside are the ichibanza, nibanza and sanbanza (the first, second and third rooms), a rear room called the uraza, and a kitchen. The ichibanza has a tokonoma alcove and shelves, and the nibanza holds the family altar. In a traditional Okinawan house these rooms have fixed roles: the ichibanza receives guests, and the family itself describes it as the guest room, while the nibanza is where ancestors are honored. Built only seven years after the Battle of Okinawa, the house follows that order exactly.

That completeness is the point of the registration. A new house of 1952, the Yagi Family Residence Main House has the full set of traditional features: a hipped red-tile roof, plastered joints, the amahaji eaves and the standard sequence of rooms. It shows what a house of the region was supposed to look like, which is what the design criterion recognizes.

How the Main House Is Built

The family's account gives the rooms as two six-mat tatami rooms, one six-mat room with a board floor and a nine-mat kitchen. The uraza once served as a storeroom, with large jars of miso and suuchikaa, salt-cured pork belly.

The frame is joined without nails. Posts and beams, and beams with each other, are locked with wedges, and the house is not fastened to its foundation at all. The roof is built up in layers: bamboo from the north of the island laid over the rafters, a bed of clay on top, and then the Ryukyu tiles. The combined weight of tile, clay and timber holds the building down. The family adds that the clay absorbs moisture in humid weather and releases it when the air is dry.

According to the family, nearly all red-tiled houses in Okinawa share the same plan. What sets one apart from another is the size of the tatami rooms, the width of the veranda, the ceiling height, the depth of the eaves and the number of rooms.

What to Look for at the Main House

There is no front door. Step around the hinpun and the veranda and tatami rooms open directly in front of you. As the family puts it, once you are past the hinpun you are already inside the house. Neighbors and friends used to sit on the edge of the veranda over tea.

Standing on the veranda, look up at the depth of the eaves. The family explains that the broad amahaji keeps out the summer sun, lets in a pleasant amount of winter light and stops rain from blowing in. Running along two sides of the building, the amahaji is also the most striking feature of the Yagi Family Residence Main House from outside.

Indoors, note how the ichibanza with its alcove and shelves sits beside the nibanza with its altar. The family says the brazier placed at the front belonged to Yagi Matsu himself. For the roof, step back and view it from the south, where the rows of red tile divided by white plaster lines show the hipped form clearly.

Visiting the Main House

The Yagi Family Residence Main House serves as the dining room of the Yagiya restaurant, and walk-in guests are usually seated here. The restaurant says it holds up to 30 adults. Shoes come off at the veranda.

The interior can be seen only as a restaurant guest during opening hours. The altar in the nibanza is the family's place of worship, so do not approach or touch it. There is no official guidance on photography, but the rooms are often full of diners, so take care not to include other guests in your pictures.