Okuno Family Residence (Toyonaka)

The headman's house of Sakurazuka village

Okuno Family Residence (Toyonaka), known in Japanese as 奥野家住宅 (Okuno-ke Jūtaku), is the homestead of a former village headman in Nakasakurazuka, Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, where eight structures centred on a main house of the late Edo period, between 1751 and 1829, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on July 8, 2008. Their registration numbers run consecutively from 27-0493 to 27-0500.

Through the Edo period the Okuno family served as Shōya, hereditary headmen, of Sakurazuka village under the name Shōbei; the village belonged to the Abe domain. After the Meiji Restoration the head of the house also served as village mayor. The plot, 1,680 square meters, lies along a side road that once linked the Nose Kaidō and the Minoo Kaidō highways, east of Okamachi Station on the Hankyu Takarazuka Line, and is now wrapped in houses and shops.

Today the family opens part of the house to the public under the name Sakura no Shōbei, after the long line of Shōbei of Sakurazuka whose name appears in the family papers. A separate Okuno Family Residence exists in Kasugamotomachi, Hirakata; the two are different households in different cities.

The eight registered structures

The eight are the main house (with its former grain-pounding shed), the gate row house, the middle gate (with its flanking walls), the roji gate and high wall, and four storehouses: west, rice, east and new. All were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape of the country.

Their dates spread widely. The main house, gate row house, middle gate and west storehouse are late Edo. The east storehouse is late Edo too, but was moved to its present spot in the late Meiji years. The roji gate and wall belong to early Meiji, the new storehouse to 1877 and the rice storehouse to 1910; those last two dates come from a prayer talisman and an account book kept by the family.

There are five storehouses in all. The rice storehouse is the largest at 64 square meters, followed by the west storehouse at 41 square meters, the east storehouse at 40 square meters and the new storehouse at 28 square meters. The main house, 313 square meters, is a big farmhouse, and the homestead as a whole keeps the scale needed to run both a household and a village office.

Surviving the earthquake

The Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake of 1995 damaged many of the buildings of the Okuno Family Residence (Toyonaka). According to the city, the owners then saw them repaired. The 1998 renovation of the main house recorded by the Agency for Cultural Affairs falls within that period.

The city notes that, apart from the reception rooms, the main house was heavily altered, yet its beams and post positions are largely original. Using marks left in the timbers and a kasōzu, a geomantic house plan kept by the family, its first form could be reconstructed almost completely. That traceable history is part of its value.

Finding your way around

The Okuno Family Residence (Toyonaka) presents its face to the street on the west. In the middle of that side stands the gate row house: gateway in the southern half, attendants' room in the northern half, with the west storehouse attached to its north end and running on along the street. The city describes the gate row house, storehouses and board fences on the side road, together with the big trees inside and outside the walls, as a reminder of the days when this was a village.

Through the gate row house, the middle gate stands between it and the southwest corner of the main house, marking the path to the house and enclosing the forecourt. The main house faces south near the centre of the plot. From the east of its formal shikidai entrance, the roji gate and high wall run south, dividing the forecourt from the garden in front of the reception rooms. Gate after gate draws a guest inward: a classic headman's layout.

The storehouses line the edges: the rice storehouse in the northwest corner, the east storehouse beside it along the north edge, the new storehouse in the southeast corner. The city's description places the rice storehouse in the northeast, but the agency puts it in the northwest, which also fits its name in the family ledger, Inuigura, inui meaning northwest. This site follows the agency.

One more trap for readers of the records: the family papers call the middle gate the "inner gate" and the roji gate the "middle gate". The registered names and the household names do not line up.

Visiting and getting there

Okuno Family Residence (Toyonaka) is a private home and is normally closed. The way inside is through the concerts, rakugo storytelling and craft exhibitions that Sakura no Shōbei hosts or lends its rooms for. Most take place in the rice storehouse or the main house; fees vary by event, and autumn 2026 concerts were priced between 3,000 and 4,500 yen. The schedule and booking details are on the official website.

A small café, Sakura no Shōbei Plus, operates on the grounds. As of September 2026 it opens on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with lunch served until 2 p.m. It does close for breaks, so check the website before setting out.

The nearest station is Okamachi on the Hankyu Takarazuka Line, about eight minutes on foot according to the official site, through the shopping street east of the station. The postal address is 2-30-35 Nakasakurazuka; the agency's registration lists the land-lot number 2-422-1. No parking is advertised, so come by train.