Nomura Family Residence (Higashiomi)

The Nomura Family Residence in Higashiomi

The Nomura Family Residence (野村家住宅) in Ozawa-cho, Higashiomi City, Shiga Prefecture, is a homestead centred on a main house of 1919; its main house, storehouse and rice storehouse were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (structures) on July 1, 2003 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Their registration numbers run consecutively from 25-0226 to 25-0228.

The town name is read Ozawa-cho, according to Higashiomi City's ordinance on town names. The owner field in the Agency's database is blank for all three buildings.

How the Homestead Is Laid Out

The main house stands on a plot near the middle of the village, facing southwest (Agency for Cultural Affairs). A storehouse is joined to its northwest corner through a covered entry 2 bays square, and the rice storehouse stands in front of the house at the southeast corner of the plot, right on the road. One dwelling with two storehouses of different sizes: the whole arrangement survives.

• Main house: 1919, two-storey timber, 140 square metres, with a gently swelling roof and mushiko-mado slatted windows upstairs (registration number 25-0226)
• Storehouse: 1919, two-storey earthen-walled, 52 square metres, on a tall base of cut granite (registration number 25-0227)
• Rice storehouse: late Taisho era, two-storey earthen-walled, 29 square metres, with an anteroom and a rice chamber on the ground floor (registration number 25-0228)

The Agency registered the main house for its contribution to the historic landscape, and the two storehouses as models of design; its note on the storehouse calls it indispensable to the layout of the homestead. Because house and stores date from the same Taisho years and remain together, you can still see how living space and storage were divided across the plot. Each building has its own page with details of construction.

Visiting and Getting There

No public opening or interior visits for the Nomura Family Residence could be found in Agency or Higashiomi City sources. If you look at the buildings, do so from the road and do not enter the property.

The nearest railway stations are Yokaichi and Echigawa on the Ohmi Railway, roughly 5.6 km and 5.8 km away in a straight line (an estimate from OpenStreetMap locations). No official route guidance by public transport was found.