Tanaka Family Residence (Yamanoue, Hirakata)

A Landowner's Compound Above the Amano River

The Tanaka Family Residence (Yamanoue, Hirakata; 田中家住宅) is a landowner's compound on the hills west of the Amano River in Yamanoue, Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture, where six buildings led by a main house of 1887 were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on November 2, 2018. The six carry consecutive registration numbers, 27-0757 to 27-0762, and all were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape.

The main house faces south at the center of the grounds. An accounting room projects from its south front, and a wall running south from that room holds a small middle gate dividing the front yard from the main garden. Along the southern edge stand the nagaya gate to the west, the rice storehouse beside it and the annex in the southeast corner; behind the main house, on the north edge, is a large tool storehouse.

Built Across the Meiji Era

The buildings span almost the whole Meiji period. The tool storehouse of 1875 is the oldest; the nagaya gate and rice storehouse date from early Meiji (1868 to 1882), the middle gate from mid Meiji (1883 to 1897), the main house from 1887 and the annex from around 1907. Later work included the rice storehouse around 1965, the gate in 1989 and the middle gate in 1998.

The outbuildings share a vocabulary. The annex, rice storehouse and tool storehouse all rise from dressed-stone footings with white plaster walls and tall vertical boarding along the lower courses, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the annex was finished to match its neighbours, a sign the family cared how the compound looked from the street. The main house and the nagaya gate both have fronts plastered up to the eaves and pierced with slatted mushiko windows, so the gate at the edge echoes the house at the center.

Hirakata has a second, unrelated Tanaka house: the former home and foundry of a family of Kawachi metal casters, now moved to Fujisaka and run as the city's Tanaka Family Foundry Folk Museum. It is a separate family and a separate property.

Visiting

No official information about public opening or tours of the Tanaka Family Residence in Yamanoue could be found. It appears to be a private home, and the grounds cannot be entered. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, two sides of the annex face the street, so the southern frontage with the nagaya gate, rice storehouse and annex should be visible from the road. If you go, look quietly from the street and respect the residents' privacy.

No official route or walking time from the nearest station was found either, so only the address, 1205 Yamanoue 1-chome, is given here.