Nakano Family Residence (Otsu)

Nakano Family Residence (Otsu)

The Nakano Family Residence (中野家住宅) in Chuo, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, is a merchant townhouse property whose Main House of 1872, Annex, Storehouse and an adjoining second Main House were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on August 13, 2012 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The four carry the consecutive registration numbers 25-0311 to 25-0314.

The property sits in the old core of Otsu known as Otsu Hyakucho, a short walk south of Biwako-Hamaotsu Station on the Keihan line. All four buildings were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape.

How the Property Is Laid Out

The Agency's records place the four buildings as follows.

• Main House (1-208 Chuo): a two-storey townhouse facing the street to the west, built in 1872 and altered in 1934; 166 square metres
• Annex: a single-storey wing running parallel to the north side of the eastern half of the main house; late Meiji era (1898 to 1912); 53 square metres
• Storehouse: a two-storey storehouse behind the main house across an inner courtyard; early Meiji era (1868 to 1882); 23 square metres
• Main House (1-209 Chuo): the neighbouring two-storey townhouse, also facing west, built in 1910 and altered in 1934 and again from 1989; 76 square metres

Only the two main houses front the street. The annex and the storehouse lie behind them around a courtyard and a small enclosed garden. The Agency notes that the house at 1-209 Chuo forms part of the streetscape together with its Nakano neighbour. Each building has its own page with details of its construction.

Otsu Hyakucho and the "Eaves Cutting"

According to a walking map published by Machizukuri Otsu, the town known as Otsu Hyakucho, "the hundred blocks of Otsu", traces its origins to Otsu Castle, built on the lakeshore around 1586. In the Edo period it prospered as a port for Lake Biwa shipping, a post town on the Tokaido highway and the gate town of the temple Onjoji (Mii-dera), and grew to more than a hundred blocks.

The same map explains that in the early Showa era a major project moved the street gutters, and many townhouses facing the street had their fronts cut back, a process locally called nokigiri, or eaves cutting. Both Nakano main houses were altered in 1934, and the Agency describes the house at 1-208 Chuo as an example of a townhouse remodelled by this early Showa cutting. The street fronts you see today are the result of that work.

Visiting

The Nakano Family Residence is a private home, and no official information on public or interior access was found. Visitors can view the two main houses from the street. Please do not enter the property, and be considerate of the people who live there. No official guidance on photography was found either.

The nearest station is Biwako-Hamaotsu on the Keihan Ishiyama-Sakamoto and Keishin lines, about 200 metres to the north in a straight line, a few minutes on foot. JR Otsu Station on the Biwako Line is about 600 metres to the south; the walk crosses Kyomachi-dori, the old Tokaido, on the way down toward the lake.