What the Akada Family Residence Main House Is
The Akada Family Residence Main House (赤田家住宅主屋, Akada-ke Jūtaku Omoya) is a two-storey timber farmhouse built in 1910 in Otamachi, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, and entered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 6 August 2025. With a tiled roof over a footprint of 171 square metres, it is the heart of the five-building Akada family compound.
The house stands in the northwest corner of the plot and looks south. Its two-storey block carries a half-hipped roof of the kind called kata-irimoya: one end is finished in the hip-and-gable Irimoya-zukuri manner, the other as a plain gable, and the whole is laid with interlocking Sangawara-buki tiles. A single-storey wing with its own hip-and-gable roof pushes out to the west, so that from the south two roofs of different heights step down side by side.
Why It Was Listed
The Akada Family Residence Main House was listed as a building that serves as a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs points to a well-ordered plan, a carefully finished reception room and an excellent outlook over the garden, and sums it up as a farmhouse of high quality.
On the ground floor, the east end is an earth-floored Doma, the working entrance hall of a Japanese farmhouse. The raised living area beyond is divided into six rooms, two rows of three, a layout known as rokuma-dori and found in larger farmhouses. Rooms near the doma were for daily life; the further in, the more formal. At the Akada house the far southwest corner is the Zashiki, the best room, which the Agency's photo caption calls the Okuzashiki, the inner reception room.
In that room the posts and other structural members are finished in Urushi lacquer. Farmhouse reception rooms usually show bare, planed wood, and lacquering the frame took time and money. It suggests how much weight the family placed on this one room for receiving guests.
Upstairs is a single undivided space that once served as a silkworm room. Giving over an entire upper floor to sericulture was common in farmhouses from the Meiji era into the early Showa years, and it is a reminder that this was both a house for entertaining and a place where the family earned its living.
What to Look For
Start with the roofline. The half-hipped roof of the two-storey block is joined by the lower hip-and-gable roof of the western wing. Instead of presenting one tall, flat mass, the Akada main house steps down as it turns toward the garden, and the building feels less imposing for it.
Then consider where the Okuzashiki sits. It occupies the southwest corner, the corner that faces the garden to the south, and the fine outlook the Agency praises comes directly from that choice. The garden, known as Akada-shi Teien, is thought to date from the early Edo period. When the family built the main house in 1910, they put their finest room exactly where the old garden could best be seen.
Trace the plan from the east doma to the southwest reception room and you move from workaday space to formal space in a straight progression. The layout itself spells out the order of the household.
Visiting
The Akada Family Residence Main House is a private home and its interior is not open. Neither the Agency for Cultural Affairs nor Nagahama City lists any opportunity to see the lacquered reception room or the silkworm loft (checked 27 September 2026).
Because the house stands behind the main gate in the northwest of the plot, it cannot be taken in whole from the road. The most a visitor can expect is a glimpse of its tiled roof rising beyond the thatch of the gate. Stay outside the gate and photograph only from the public road.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Shiga
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Akada Family Residence Main House
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Q&A
- When was the Akada Family Residence Main House built?
- In 1910. Of the five Akada family buildings on the register, only the late Edo-period main gate is older.
- Can visitors go inside the Akada Family Residence Main House?
- No. It is a private home and the interior is closed, with no opening days or booking route announced (checked 27 September 2026).
- Why is the Akada Family Residence Main House a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was listed as a model of design, recognised for its well-ordered six-room plan, a reception room with lacquered structural members and its outlook over the garden.
- What was the upper floor of the Akada Family Residence Main House used for?
- The upper floor is one undivided room that once served for raising silkworms.
- How is the Akada Family Residence Main House laid out inside?
- The east end is an earth-floored doma, and the raised area is split into six rooms in two rows of three. The formal reception room, the Okuzashiki, sits in the far southwest corner.
Basic Information
| Name | Akada Family Residence Main House (赤田家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 133 Otamachi, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register no. 25-0525 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2025/8/6 (Reiwa 7) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 171 square metres |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Closed to the public |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Akada Family Residence Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00015469
- Nagahama City, List of Designated and Registered Cultural Properties (as of 6 August 2025)
- https://www.city.nagahama.lg.jp/cmsfiles/contents/0000014/14176/ichirann.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.26
