Hagiwara Family Residence Main House

About the Hagiwara Family Residence Main House

The Hagiwara Family Residence Main House (萩原家住宅主屋, Hagiwara-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is the late Edo main house of a former cotton merchant, built between 1751 and 1830 in Onji Nakamachi, Yao City, Osaka Prefecture, and was entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on September 10, 2019. It is a single-story timber house with a thatched roof, now under temporary metal sheeting, and tiled roofs, covering 161 square meters.

The house stands at the northern end of the front of the plot, facing east onto the Higashi-Koya Kaido road. The Agency for Cultural Affairs adds to its date a renovation around 1876, an extension in the Taisho era, and further renovations in 2007 and 2018, so the Edo core has been reworked at least 4 times.

One Roof, Three Coverings

The Hagiwara main house has a Yamatomune roof. Its core is a tall thatched roof; the north end is finished as a hipped-and-gabled Irimoya-zukuri section in Sangawara-buki pantiles, and along the street front runs a lower Geya lean-to roofed in heavy Hongawarabuki tiles. Thatch, pantiles and traditional round-and-flat tiles all sit on the same building.

From the road, the low tiled lean-to draws a level line along the eaves, and the high main roof rises behind it. Walk around to the north and you can see the same roof ending in a tiled gable.

The thatch is currently covered with temporary metal sheeting. Yao City describes this part as formerly thatched and now in pantiles, so the two official descriptions of the present roofing do not agree.

Earth Floor to the North, Reception Rooms to the South

Inside, the Hagiwara Family Residence Main House puts an earth-floored Doma on the north side and 4 rooms, in 2 rows of 2, on the south. A Zashiki reception wing projects from the south front.

The north side, with the doma, faces the approach to Onji Shrine. Placing the busy entrance there and stacking the living and guest rooms toward the quieter south suggests how a cotton wholesaler kept trade and household under one roof.

East of the projecting reception wing stands the Tatsumi Storehouse, and in front of it lies the small garden enclosed by the front gate and high wall. The southern half of the house is the most formal part of the compound, from the street and from the courtyard alike.

The Post Office Years and the Registration

According to the family's history, part of the Hagiwara Family Residence Main House was refitted in 1876 as the Onji post office. The renovation the Agency for Cultural Affairs dates to about 1876 falls in the same year. The office changed its name to Onji (恩智) in 1885 and closed in 1895.

The house was registered as contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency's description calls it the core of a dignified shrine-town streetscape. On the corner where the shrine approach meets the old road, its big yamatomune roof still marks the crossroads.

Visiting the Hagiwara Family Residence Main House

The Hagiwara Family Residence Main House serves as the main building of Chakichian, with a café in one part and rooms used for gallery shows and rentals. You can go inside when the café is open (11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed Tuesdays and some other days) or during a gallery show or event (checked September 2026).

The exterior can be seen from the road and the shrine approach; near the northeast corner you can take in the tiled lean-to on the front and the gable on the north side in one view. No photography rules are published, so ask on site before photographing indoors. Directions and an overview of the whole compound are on the Hagiwara Family Residence (Yao) page.