A Shelter Beside the Kitchen
The Omi Hino Merchant Museum (Former Yamanaka Hyoemon Family Residence) Well House (近江日野商人館（旧山中兵右衛門家住宅）井戸屋形, idoyakata) is a small building over the well at the Hino home of the merchant Yamanaka Hyoemon in Okubo, Hino, Shiga Prefecture; it was built around 1943 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 16 January 1998.
An idoyakata is simply a roofed structure built over or around a well. The national register records a wooden single-storey building with a tiled roof and a footprint of 11 square metres, gabled in the Kirizuma-zukuri manner and finished in Sangawara-buki pantiles. It runs parallel to the kamaya, the kitchen wing on the west side of the main house, so close that the eaves nearly meet, and the storage shed adjoins it to the north.
The main house, gate and storehouses all date from around 1936. The Well House of the Former Yamanaka Hyoemon Family Residence and the shed beside it came later, around 1943, making them the newest buildings in the compound.
A Boiler in Wartime
The Well House of the Former Yamanaka Hyoemon Family Residence was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs is interested in how it is divided and what it contains.
The building has 2 distinct halves. The north end is left open, with no walls, while the south end is closed off as a room housing a boiler made in 1943. The old domestic business of drawing water here met modern machinery.
The Agency values the building as a place where you can see a merchant household modernising. A boiler manufactured in the middle of the Pacific War and installed right beside the kitchen is a concrete record of the equipment that kept a Showa-era family home running.
How to Look at It
Look at the Omi Hino Merchant Museum Well House in relation to the kitchen wing. Set parallel to it, eaves almost touching, it suggests that drawing water, heating it and cooking all happened along one short working strip.
On the building itself, the contrast to find is between the open north end and the enclosed south room. Trace it from the shed on the north to the boiler room on the south, and you can see how a hut of about 11 square metres was split into an open work area and a closed room for machinery.
Visiting the Well House
The Well House of the Former Yamanaka Hyoemon Family Residence stands at the back of the museum grounds, west of the kitchen wing. The museum's published information does not mention access to it or to the boiler, so ask at reception whether you can see it up close and take photographs. Opening hours, admission and directions are on the Omi Hino Merchant Museum page.
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Q&A
- What is the Omi Hino Merchant Museum Well House?
- A small wooden single-storey building over the well, 11 square metres in area, with a gabled pantile roof. It stands west of the kitchen wing of the main house, its eaves almost touching.
- When was the well house of the Former Yamanaka Hyoemon Family Residence built?
- The national register dates it to around 1943, later than the main house and at the same time as the storage shed next to it.
- Is there really a boiler in the Omi Hino Merchant Museum Well House?
- Yes. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, a room at the south end holds a boiler made in 1943, while the north end is left open.
- Why is the Omi Hino Merchant Museum Well House a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It shows how a merchant household modernised its domestic life, and it was registered on 16 January 1998 for its contribution to the historic landscape.
- Can visitors see the Omi Hino Merchant Museum Well House?
- The museum publishes no information about access, so ask at reception whether you can see it up close and take photographs.
Basic Information
| Name | Omi Hino Merchant Museum (Former Yamanaka Hyoemon Family Residence) Well House (近江日野商人館（旧山中兵右衛門家住宅）井戸屋形) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1011 Okubo, Hino-cho, Gamo-gun, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 1998/1/16 (Heisei 10) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, single storey, tiled roof; building area 11 square metres |
| Owner | Hino Town |
| Public Access | Within the Omi Hino Merchant Museum grounds; no published information on interior access |
References
- Cultural Heritage Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: 近江日野商人館（旧山中兵右衛門家住宅）井戸屋形
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00000441
- Cultural Heritage Online: 近江日野商人館（旧山中兵右衛門家住宅）井戸屋形
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/137711
Last verified: 2026.09.24
