Kotani Family Residence

What Is the Kotani Family Residence?

The Kotani Family Residence (小谷家住宅, Kotani-ke Jūtaku) is a hillside estate at 1612 Toyoda, Minami-ku, Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, whose main house dates from the mid-Edo period and whose gates and walls date from the mid-Meiji era; its four structures were entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on June 21, 2013. The name is sometimes misread as Otani; the Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the reading Kotani.

The four listings are the main house, the main gate, the south gate and the earthen wall, numbered 27-0565 to 27-0568 in the national register. All four were recognized under the same criterion: they contribute to the historic landscape of the country. For how registration differs from designation, see Registered Tangible Cultural Property.

The oldest piece is the main house, thought to have been built between 1661 and 1751 and remodeled into its present form in 1809. The gates and the wall belong to the years 1883 to 1897, when the family appears to have rebuilt the approach and enclosure around the older house.

A House Built in a Castle Corner

The estate sits halfway up the Senboku Hills, in the southwest corner of the site of Kotani Castle. According to Sakai City, the Kotani were a family of land stewards (jitō) whose line goes back to the Kamakura period; they built the castle here and were known locally as "Kotani-dono." The city says the castle fell to Miyoshi forces at the end of the Muromachi period, while the neighboring Kotani Castle Museum dates its fall to 1575, in fighting against Oda Nobunaga's side. The two accounts do not agree, and neither can be settled from the registration records.

After the castle was lost, the family kept living on the site, and in the Edo period they served as village headmen of Toyoda. That history explains the setting: Sakai City notes that the steep stone-paved slope and white plastered walls give the Kotani Family Residence the feel of a mountain fortress.

Just east of the residence stands the Kotani Castle Museum, founded to display material gathered by the local historian Kotani Michiakira (1909 to 1991). Its buildings, at 1602-1 Toyoda, were registered separately in 2005 and are not part of the Kotani Family Residence listing.

Layout of the Estate

The main house stands in the middle of the plot and faces south. The main gate guards the west side, the south gate runs along the southern edge, and an earthen wall encloses the approach. Both gates are Nagayamon, gatehouses with rooms on either side of the passage, and Sakai City records that their principal timbers are Keyaki (zelkova).

The clearest way to read the Kotani Family Residence from outside is to start on the road along its west side. The wall follows the road, then bends to trace a stone-paved ramp that climbs in an S-curve from the entrance up to the main gate. Altogether the wall runs 132 meters. From the foot of the slope, the long hip-and-gable roof of the main gate fills the view.

The south gate, with a storehouse attached to its east end, shows lookout lattices and Musha-mado (warrior windows) and looks even more like a castle gate than its western counterpart. Whether the tall roof of the main house shows above the gates depends on where you stand.

Each structure has its own page with details of its construction.

Visiting the Kotani Family Residence

The interior of the Kotani Family Residence is not open to the public, and Sakai City asks visitors to view the buildings from outside only. There is no official guidance on photography. Since this is a private, closed estate, stay on the public road, and avoid shooting through the gates or photographing people.

By public transport, take the Nankai Semboku Line to Izumigaoka Station, then a Nankai bus on the Hata or Hachigamine route from stop 2 on the south side of the station. Get off at Toyoda-minami. The Kotani Castle Museum is about a 5-minute walk from the stop, and the Kotani Family Residence lies immediately to its west. The estate is on a slope, so comfortable shoes help.

The museum next door opens from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (last entry 3:30 p.m.) and closes on Mondays (or the following day when Monday is a holiday), with additional closures in summer and winter.