Kirihata Family Residence Annex

The Annex Across the Courtyard

The Kirihata Family Residence Annex (桐畑家住宅離れ) is the annex of a town house (machiya) of the late Edo period in Chuo, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on April 28, 2010 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber building of 5.3 by 6.7 metres with a gabled tiled roof whose ridge runs east to west; registration number 25-0285.

A Single-Storey Wing Behind the Courtyard

The Kirihata Family Residence Annex stands south of the main house, on the far side of the inner courtyard. It has two rooms set north and south of each other, a corridor along the east side and a veranda facing the courtyard (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It dates from the late Edo period and was altered in the mid-Showa and Heisei periods.

The structure field of the Agency database describes it as a two-storey building of storehouse construction with a building area of 38 square metres, while the explanatory note on the same page calls it a single-storey timber building measuring 5.3 by 6.7 metres. The 38 square metres matches the storehouse entry, so this article follows the explanatory note.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency notes the arched, bridge-like veranda that crosses the east side of the courtyard to the main house, and values the Kirihata Family Residence Annex for keeping, with the main house and courtyard, the full plan of an urban town house. It was registered as contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

On October 1, 2024, Otsu City named the annex, with the main house and storehouse, its Historic Landscape Building No. 2 (Otsu City).

What to Look For

The detail to look for at the Kirihata Family Residence Annex is the veranda on the east side of the courtyard, shaped like an arched taikobashi bridge rather than a flat covered walkway, which links the annex to the main house (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The two rooms of the annex sit between the east corridor and the courtyard veranda. In the sequence that runs back from the street, main house, courtyard, annex and storehouse, it occupies the middle.

Visiting

The Kirihata Family Residence Annex stands behind the main house, south of the courtyard, and does not face Hama-dori. It is privately owned, and no official information on interior access was found.