Former Ueda Family Residence Lodge (Guardroom)

About the Former Ueda Family Residence Lodge (Guardroom)

The Former Ueda Family Residence Lodge (Guardroom) (旧植田家住宅控舎（番部屋）, Kyū-Uedake Jūtaku Hikaesha, also called the banbeya) in Uematsu-cho, Yao City, Osaka Prefecture is a small mid-Meiji era earthen building beside the front gate of the former kaisho, or estate office, of the Yasunaka Shinden reclaimed fields, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 27, 2006 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey earthen building with a tiled roof and a building area of 18 square metres; registration number 27-0364.

A Small Earthen Building by the Gate

The Former Ueda Family Residence Lodge faces the road on the northwest side of the site and is joined to storehouse No. 1 by way of the front gate, on the gate's northeast side (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is a single-storey Dozo-zukuri building two and a half bays by two bays, with a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles.

On the inner side, a tiled Hisashi canopy shelters the doorway (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The lower walls are finished differently inside and out: vertical boards facing the grounds and sheet iron facing the road. Inside is a single eight-mat room with a Tokonoma alcove and a storage closet.

Why It Was Registered

The Former Ueda Family Residence Lodge (Guardroom) was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It lines the road with the gate and storehouse No. 1; at 18 square metres it is the smallest of the five, but by closing off the side of the gate it carries the street face of the compound to its northeast end.

From Guardroom to Office

Banbeya means a room for the gatekeeper who watched who came and went. The Former Ueda Family Residence Lodge sits right beside the front gate, where it commands the entrance, yet its eight-mat room with an alcove is laid out like a proper reception room (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The museum leaflet's plan marks it as the office today.

What to Look For

From the road, look at the sheet-iron skirt of the Former Ueda Family Residence Lodge and how it meets the black plaster of the gate next to it (Agency for Cultural Affairs). From inside the grounds you will find the doorway under the tiled canopy, where the skirt turns to vertical boards.

Visiting

The exterior of the Former Ueda Family Residence Lodge can be seen from both the road and the grounds. The museum plan marks it as the office, and no information was found on opening the interior (museum leaflet). Opening hours and admission are given on the Former Ueda Family Residence page.