Matsumiya Family Residence

An Old Family Compound in Eastern Hirakata

The Matsumiya Family Residence (松宮家住宅, Matsumiya-ke Jūtaku) is the compound of an old family in Sugi, Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture, centred on a main house built in 1744, whose 4 buildings were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 5 December 2019.

The 4 are the main house, the west storehouse, the rice storehouse and the front gate. A thatched farmhouse of the mid-Edo period is joined by 2 fireproof storehouses of the Meiji era and a gatehouse of the Taisho era, so the basic parts of an established rural household (a house, its stores and its formal entrance) all stand on one plot.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the main house as the core of a compound that keeps the character of the mid-18th century. Taken as a whole, the Matsumiya Family Residence shows how a leading village family on the eastern side of Hirakata laid out its home.

Building Dates at the Matsumiya Family Residence

Put in order, the dates recorded by the Agency for Cultural Affairs show the Matsumiya Family Residence being built up over roughly 170 years.

The main house comes first, dated to 1744. It has been altered at least 3 times since, in the early Meiji years and again around 1955 and 1960.

Both storehouses belong to the Meiji era. The rice storehouse dates from the early Meiji years, between 1868 and 1882, and the west storehouse from the middle Meiji years, between 1883 and 1897. Each was repaired in the Showa era, the west storehouse in 1969 and the rice storehouse in 1972. The last addition was the front gate, built in the early Taisho years, between 1912 and 1918.

Although their dates lie far apart, all 4 buildings were registered on the same day under consecutive numbers, 27-0789 to 27-0792, and all under the same criterion: contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The numbering itself shows that the compound was assessed as a whole.

How the Matsumiya Family Residence Is Laid Out

At the Matsumiya Family Residence the main house stands in the centre of the plot, facing south. The other 3 buildings are divided between the north and south sides around it.

The storehouses line the north side. The west storehouse occupies the north-west corner, with the rice storehouse immediately to its east. Both face south into the compound and turn their backs to the street along the north edge; the Agency for Cultural Affairs credits the pair with giving that street its solid, weighty character.

On the south side, the front gate stands in the south-west corner, also facing south. It is the formal entrance to the household. Stores to the north, a gate to the south and the main house between them: that is the basic arrangement of the compound.

Visiting the Matsumiya Family Residence

The Matsumiya Family Residence is not open to the public. A 2022 press release from Hirakata City, listing the registered buildings in the city, marks it as closed to visitors. The grounds cannot be entered, and the buildings can only be seen from the street.

If you take photographs from the road, please avoid pointing the camera into the house or through the gate, and do not linger in front of the walls.

The nearest station is Fujisaka on the JR Gakkentoshi Line (Katamachi Line). The Matsumiya Family Residence lies to the east-south-east, about 1.7 kilometres away in a straight line; allow around 30 minutes on foot. Nagao Station on the same line is a little under 2 kilometres away. There is no visitor parking.

Names and Readings

Each building of the Matsumiya Family Residence is formally named by adding the building type to the family name. The main house is shuoku, the rice storehouse komegura and the front gate omotemon.

The west storehouse needs care: the national database gives its reading as nishi-no-kura, not nishigura.