Former Matsuno Family Residence (Noguchi Family Residence)

About the Former Matsuno Family Residence (Noguchi Family Residence)

The Former Matsuno Family Residence (Noguchi Family Residence) (旧松野家住宅（野口家住宅）, Kyū Matsuno-ke Jūtaku, Noguchi-ke Jūtaku) is the estate of an old family in a hill hamlet in Umeno, Yamato-cho, Saga City, Saga Prefecture; its main house of about 1909, an early Meiji outbuilding, and early Taishō gateposts, stone walls and water intake pond became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 6 March 2024.

Saga Prefecture places the estate in a mountain settlement north of central Saga. The address is 3068 Aza Mizunashi, Umeno, about 10 kilometers north of JR Saga Station as the crow flies.

The registered name puts the Matsuno family first and adds the Noguchi family in brackets. A different "Former Matsuno Family Residence", a landowner's house in Isogo Ward, Yokohama, was registered separately in 2025 and has no connection with this estate.

Four Registered Items

The four items of the Former Matsuno Family Residence (Noguchi Family Residence) were gazetted on 6 March 2024 in the 106th round of registrations, becoming Registered Tangible Cultural Properties under consecutive numbers 41-0131 to 41-0134. The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the following dates, sizes and grounds for registration.

• Main House: about 1909. Two-storey timber building, tiled roof, 205 square meters in building area. Registered as a model of its type.
• Outbuilding: early Meiji period. Two-storey timber building, tiled roof, 61 square meters in building area. Same ground as the main house.
• Gateposts and Stone Walls: early Taishō period. Stone gateposts 2.8 meters apart; stone walls 55 meters long in total. Registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.
• Water Intake Pond: early Taishō period, altered around 1965. Stone, 26 square meters. Registered as something that would be hard to reproduce.

The database defines early Meiji as 1868 to 1882 and early Taishō as 1912 to 1918, so the outbuilding is the oldest piece and the main house came roughly a generation later. Saga Prefecture says the date of the main house rests on family tradition and a date written on its painted sliding doors. The two stone works followed in the first years of the Taishō era.

How the Estate Is Laid Out

The way into the Former Matsuno Family Residence is at the southeast corner of the plot. A pair of stone gateposts stands there, and stone walls run off to either side, wrapping around the southern half of the property.

The outbuilding sits east of the main house in the northeast corner and faces west. The water intake pond is set at the north end of the stone wall along the east edge, fed from a channel that runs beside the wall.

Gateposts, walls and the pond enclosure are all cut from the same granite, so a single line of matching stone runs from the gate to the pond along the south and east sides of the estate.

Visiting and Getting There

The Former Matsuno Family Residence (Noguchi Family Residence) is privately owned. Neither Saga Prefecture nor Saga City, in the pages we checked, announces any public opening of the buildings. Treat it as a family home and stay off the property.

The buildings can be seen in the photographs on the Agency for Cultural Affairs database: the front and main parlor of the main house, the front and interior of the outbuilding, the gateposts and the east face of the wall, and the inside of the intake pond.

The estate lies in the hills about 10 kilometers north of JR Saga Station in a straight line. We could not confirm the nearest bus stop or a journey time from the sources available. The lanes in the hamlet are local roads, so take care not to block traffic if you pass by.