Hatsuda Family Residence Main House

A Late Edo Townhouse on Nakamachi-dori

The Hatsuda Family Residence Main House (初田家住宅主屋) is a Machiya townhouse of the late Edo period in Chuo 2-chome, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on April 28, 2010 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It was remodelled in 1934.

The Agency records a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 121 square metres; registration number 25-0289.

A Townhouse Facing Nakamachi-dori

The Hatsuda Family Residence Main House faces south onto Nakamachi-dori, a two-storey townhouse with a frontage of 9.1 metres (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The gabled roof is laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles; the eastern half drops to a lower Ochimune ridge, topped by a raised Koshi-yane vent roof.

Inside, an earth-floored Doma passage runs along the east side, and five rooms are set in a staggered arrangement to the west (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The walls are white-plastered Shinkabe, with the posts and beams left visible, and the eaves rest on projecting Degeta-zukuri beams. The house dates from the late Edo period and was remodelled in 1934.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency describes the Hatsuda Family Residence Main House, with its Mushiko-mado slit windows fitted with stout iron bars upstairs and a Degōshi projecting lattice kept at street level, as a typical Otsu townhouse, and registered it as a model of design. Together with the storehouse and wall, it is listed in Otsu City's plan for maintaining its historic character (Otsu City).

What to Look For

From the street, look first at the upstairs slit windows. The Agency specifically notes their thick iron bars, which give the front a heavier look than the slender timber grilles common on townhouses. Then take in the lattice below and the lines of posts and beams against the white plaster.

The roof steps down over the eastern half, where the vent roof sits (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Such vents let light and smoke in and out above the earth-floored passage, so they show from outside where the doma lies within.

Visiting

No official information on interior access to the Hatsuda Family Residence Main House was found. The front can be seen from Nakamachi-dori.