Yagi Family Residence (Yaese)

A Red-Tiled Okinawan Homestead Rebuilt after the War

The Yagi Family Residence (屋宜家住宅, Yagi-ke Jūtaku) in Ōton, Yaese Town, Shimajiri District, Okinawa Prefecture, is a traditional Okinawan homestead built between 1952 and about 1955, and its main house, asagi, well, hinpun screen wall and stone wall were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on November 2, 2009.

The five structures share one plot in the farming hamlet of Ōton, in the south of Okinawa Island. Since November 2007 the family has run an Okinawa soba restaurant on the grounds, Okinawa Soba to Chadokoro Yagiya. The restaurant reads the same characters as Yagiya, while the official name of the Yagi Family Residence uses the reading Yagi-ke. Both refer to the same place.

According to Yaese Town, the five registrations were the 70th in Okinawa Prefecture and the first in the town. The town describes the property as a well-preserved example of a traditional Okinawan homestead: a red-tiled main house, an asagi roofed in cement tiles set diagonally across from it, a hinpun in front of the main house and a well behind.

How the Yagi Family Residence Came to Be

The family's own account says the homestead itself has stood on this site for more than a century, and that the present main house was built soon after the war by Yagi Matsu, the first head of the household in this line. Timber was scarce. Whenever a lumber ship came into port he went looking for the pieces he needed, and the effort it took to gather materials became a talking point in the hamlet.

Matsu is remembered as a keen student of fengshui as applied to Okinawan homesteads. The family credits him with planning the placement of the buildings, the hinpun, the well, the livestock shed, the boundary walls, the height of the stone steps and even the planting.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the main house, well and hinpun to 1952 and the asagi to about 1955. The stone wall was built in 1952 and repaired in 1954. In other words, the whole Yagi Family Residence took shape within a few years of the war's end.

The Layout of the Yagi Family Residence

Read together, the national database entries and the family's plan show how the homestead is arranged. The plot lies on the west side of the lane. The main house stands toward the north of the plot and faces south. The hinpun stands directly in front of it, and the asagi is set to the southeast of the main house. The well lies east of the main house's rear room, close to the lane. The family's plan also places a livestock shed on the west side. Along the southern edge, the stone wall runs in from both east and west and turns north at the center, forming the path into the grounds.

The family gives the total area, including the approach, the back garden and a slope, as about 360 tsubo, roughly 1,190 square meters. The homestead was deliberately set lower than the surrounding ground to keep it out of typhoon winds, which here blow hardest from the east. As the wind swings around, the stone wall, the fukugi trees and a work shed take turns blocking it, and the family says the property has come through more than 60 years without serious damage.

The hinpun, the stone wall and the stonework around the well all use Ryukyu limestone quarried at Minatogawa, within the town. In its note on the stone wall, the Agency for Cultural Affairs points to the flowering shrubs along the wall, the red roof tiles with their white mortar joints and the texture of the limestone as the combination that gives the Yagi Family Residence its particular look.

The Five Registered Structures

• Main House (registration no. 47-0071): built in 1952. One-story timber building with a hipped roof of red tiles, 77 square meters. Registered under the criterion of serving as a model of design.
• Asagi (47-0072): built about 1955. One-story timber building with a hipped roof of cement tiles, 25 square meters.
• Well (47-0073): built in 1952. Stone, 3.6 square meters.
• Hinpun (47-0074): built in 1952. Stone, 3.6 meters long.
• Stone Wall (47-0075): built in 1952 and repaired in 1954. Stone, 50 meters long in total.

The other four structures were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape. All five were registered on the same day under consecutive numbers, and the registration was published in the official gazette on November 19, 2009. The national database gives the address of each as 1172 Ōton, Yaese Town, and does not name the owner.

Getting to and Visiting the Yagi Family Residence

The Yagi Family Residence is a private home, and the way in is as a customer of the Yagiya restaurant during its opening hours. According to the restaurant, guests are seated from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and it closes at 4:00 p.m. It is closed on Tuesdays and on January 1, and it also shuts for approaching typhoons and on some festival days such as Obon, so check the restaurant's website before setting out. There is no published admission fee, and the restaurant does not say whether visitors may look around without eating, so ask first if that is what you want.

Diners are seated either in the tatami rooms of the main house or in the asagi, which is mainly used for reservations. Shoes come off at the veranda. The family still looks after these buildings as their home, so avoid leaning on posts or sliding doors. There is no official guidance on photography; be considerate of other diners when taking pictures.

By car the Yagi Family Residence is about 30 minutes from Naha Airport, and there is parking near the restaurant. By bus, take Ryukyu Bus Kotsu route 50 (the Hyakuna line via Kochinda) from Naha Bus Terminal and get off at the Ōton stop. The stop name is written with a different character from the place name, but it serves the same hamlet. From there it is about 200 meters, a walk of around 3 minutes.