Hiroumi Family Residence Main House

A Shipping Merchant's Home from 1861

The Hiroumi Family Residence Main House (廣海家住宅主屋, Hiroumi-ke jūtaku shuoku) is a townhouse built in 1861 in Nishimachi, Kaizuka City, Osaka Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as the principal residence of a shipping wholesaler. It is a single-storey timber building under a tiled roof with a footprint of 641 square meters, by far the largest of the 8 registered structures on the property, and it takes up nearly the whole north side of the lot.

The long front faces the old Koginocho-suji street; storehouses and a retirement annex sit behind. Business at the front, family life at the back, all under one roof.

Why It Was Registered

Seven of the Hiroumi buildings were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape. The Hiroumi Family Residence Main House was registered under a different criterion: that it would be difficult to reproduce.

The Agency points to its scale and to how little it has been altered. Apart from the shop section, the plan and framing of a large late-Edo merchant house survive largely intact, and the sheer size of the building says a good deal about the volume of cargo this house once handled.

What to Look For

Start with the frontage. At 18 and a half ken, the street front runs for more than 30 meters under a single line of eaves.

According to the Agency, the plan is built around a central block 9 by 6 ken, flanked by sections 4 ken deep: the shop to the east, 5 ken long, and the reception rooms to the west, 4 and a half ken long. Kaizuka City describes the same building as an ancillary section of 5 ken on the east and a main block of 13 ken, all under one roof. The totals differ by half a ken, but both sources place the 5-ken shop at the east end.

Inside, the highlight is the beam framing over the niwa, the earth-floored work area (Doma). The Agency calls it powerful, and the stacked timbers hint at how much room a wholesaler needed to move goods. The interior is normally closed, so you will only see this if you catch an event.

From outside, watch the roofline and windows change as you walk from east to west: shop, central block and reception rooms each have their own character, yet one roof covers them all.

Visiting the Hiroumi Family Residence Main House

The Hiroumi Family Residence Main House is a private home and is not normally open. A feature by the Osaka Convention and Tourism Bureau notes that concerts and similar events are occasionally held inside, which can be a chance to enter. There is no regular schedule, so check with Kaizuka's tourist information before you go.

The whole north front can be seen from the street. To take in its full length, cross to the far side and walk a little east and west. Please stay off the property and do not photograph through doors or windows. How the whole compound fits together, and how to get there, is covered on the Hiroumi Family Residence page.