Tanaka Family Residence (Minamishinmachi, Matsubara)

A Headman-Class Farmhouse

The Tanaka Family Residence (Minamishinmachi, Matsubara; 田中家住宅) is the homestead of a village-headman-class farming family in Minamishinmachi 1-chome, Matsubara City, Osaka Prefecture, where the main house and nagaya gate were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on April 28, 2009. Both buildings were relocated in 2007.

According to Matsubara City, construction records show the main house was built in 1709, and later work is documented too: the gate was rebuilt in the Bunsei era (1818 to 1830), and in the Tenpo era the main house's thatch was replaced with tile and a tsushi attic storey was added.

Dates and the Move

The Agency for Cultural Affairs database dates the main house to around the Tenpo era (1830 to 1844) and the gate to the Bunsei era, noting a 2007 relocation for both. The database likely dates the house by its present tiled, two-level form, but it gives no reason, so both dates are shown here.

Matsubara City explains that the buildings had deteriorated badly, with part close to collapse, and that the owners and others involved arranged to move and preserve part of the complex. No record of where the buildings originally stood was found.

The registration numbers are 27-0527 for the main house and 27-0528 for the gate; both were registered as models of their type.

Visiting

The Tanaka Family Residence in Minamishinmachi is still lived in, and Matsubara City states that the grounds and buildings cannot be visited. The nagaya gate faces the street to the east, so its exterior can be seen from the road. Please look quietly from the street.