What Is the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House?
The Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House (旧北村医院（李軒邸）主屋, Kyū Kitamura Iin Riken-tei Omoya) is a physician's house built in 1827 in Tobakamicho, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, and it was entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on October 14, 2021. It is a two-storey timber building with a gabled roof (Kirizuma-zukuri) of interlocking pantiles (Sangawara-buki), covering 215 square meters. It is the largest of the ten registered structures on the site and faces south from just north of the plot's center.
This was the house where the Kitamura family lived and where the doctor saw patients, under one roof. A separate consultation building, added in the 1920s, joins its south side.
Why It Was Registered
The Main House was registered under the criterion of contributing to the country's historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a clinic building standing in a farming village east of central Nagahama, and values it as the main house of a medical family whose practice goes back to the Edo period.
The Council for Cultural Affairs describes the Kitamura as a medical family active from the late Edo period into the Meiji era, and 1827 falls squarely within that span. Because the front rooms given over to the practice can still be traced in the plan, the Kitamura main house records how the family fitted a clinic into a village house.
What to Look For
A clinic in the front rooms
The east end of the house is an earth-floored work area (Doma). The raised living quarters to the west follow a six-room plan, two rows of three. According to the agency, the front row, facing south, served as the clinic, while the rear row was for family life. The plan separated the rooms where patients were received from the private rooms behind.
The treatment room on the facade
At the center of the south front, a treatment room projects from the main block. This small bay became the point where the later consultation building attached, so a 1920s medical wing is plugged into the middle of an 1827 farmhouse. From outside, the junction between the broad gabled roof and the little projecting room is the detail that tells the Kitamura house apart from an ordinary village home.
A formal room hung with literati art
The two rooms at the west end form a shoin-style reception room, decorated with calligraphy and paintings by literati. The agency does not name the artists, but the presence of a formal guest room in the same house as the consulting rooms says a good deal about the family's standing.
Visiting the Main House
The interior of the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House is not open to the public, and no open day or tour had been announced as of September 27, 2026. There is no opportunity to see the treatment room or the artworks in the reception room. How much of the exterior can be seen from outside the grounds has not been confirmed; the agency's database shows only a view of the south front and a view of the reception room from the east.
This is private land. Please stay outside the gate and keep noise down.
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Q&A
- When was the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House built?
- It was built in 1827. Of the ten registered structures at the Former Kitamura Clinic, only the late Edo storehouse is older.
- Which part of the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House was used as the clinic?
- The six-room living quarters were arranged in two rows, and the front row facing south was the clinic. A treatment room projects from the center of the south front, and the 1920s consultation building connects there.
- What is inside the reception room of the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House?
- The two westernmost rooms form a formal shoin-style room decorated with calligraphy and paintings by literati. The Agency for Cultural Affairs does not name the artists.
- Why is the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered on October 14, 2021, for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The agency values it as the main house of a medical family whose practice dates to the Edo period.
- Can visitors go inside the Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House?
- No. The interior is not open, and no public opening had been announced as of September 27, 2026. The house is on private land, so please do not enter the grounds.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 761 Tobakamicho, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | 2021 (registered) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 215 square meters |
| Owner | Not published |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (no opening announced; checked September 27, 2026) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014029
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Council for Cultural Affairs recommendation on registered buildings (July 16, 2021, Japanese)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/yukei_kenzobutsu/pdf/93246101_01.pdf
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Kitamura Clinic (Riken Residence) Main House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/598299
Last verified: 2026.09.26
