Fujita Family Residence

What the Fujita Family Residence is

The Fujita Family Residence (藤田家住宅, Fujita-ke Jūtaku) is a family estate in Gōtsu Honmachi, Gotsucho, Gotsu City, Shimane Prefecture, whose eight buildings and structures, built between the late Edo period and the early Taisho period around a main house of 1853, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on January 8, 2009.

The Fujita Family Residence straddles Honmachi-dori, the old main street of the quarter. On the east side, at lot 328, stand the main house facing west onto the street, the front gate and the wall that screen its forecourts, the inner storehouse linked to the reception rooms by a covered corridor, and the new storehouse and kitchen in the northeast corner. Across the street, at lot 154, three earthen storehouses stand together: the east, north and south storehouses.

All eight carry consecutive registration numbers, 32-0086 through 32-0093, and were entered in the national register on the same day, with the official notice following on January 22. The estate was registered almost complete, outbuildings and enclosure included.

Gotsu Honmachi, a shogunate river port

Gōtsu Honmachi lies about 2 kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Gō River (江の川), where river boats met ships working the Sea of Japan coast. In the Edo period the town was placed under direct shogunate rule as part of the Ōmori magistracy, the administration that also ran the Iwami silver mine. After a sea route to the Osaka region opened in the late 17th century, Gōtsu became a port of call for kitamaebune coastal freighters and a shipping point for tax rice.

Gotsu City records that 40 to 50 sailing ships could crowd the riverbank, with more waiting their turn at Hamada down the coast. Shipping agents lined the way up from the river, and the San'in-dō highway ran through the middle of the town.

Honmachi remained the administrative center of Gōtsu until the city hall moved away in 1962. The move left a large stock of buildings from the Edo period to the early Showa era in place, and in fiscal 2003 the quarter was named a model district of the national Yume Kaido Renaissance program under the name Tenryō Gōtsu Honmachi Iraka Kaidō, the "street of roof tiles." The Fujita Family Residence occupies both sides of its main street.

The eight registered parts of the Fujita Family Residence

The Agency for Cultural Affairs database gives the following dates and sizes for the eight parts of the Fujita Family Residence.

• Main House: 1853; timber; building area 270 square meters
• Inner Storehouse: early Meiji period; two-story earthen storehouse; 47 square meters
• New Storehouse and Kitchen: early Meiji and early Taisho periods; earthen storehouse with a timber kitchen wing, two stories; 99 square meters
• East Storehouse: early Meiji period; single-story earthen storehouse; 43 square meters
• North Storehouse: early Meiji period; two-story earthen storehouse; 69 square meters
• South Storehouse: early Meiji period; two-story earthen storehouse; 82 square meters
• Front Gate: late Edo period; timber munamon gate; 1.7 meters wide
• Wall: late Edo period; timber; 26 meters in total length

Only the main house has an exact construction year; the other seven are dated by period. The roofs of the main house, the six storehouses and the wall are all recorded as red Sekishu tiles, the glazed tile made in this part of Shimane, while the front gate is described with plain interlocking pantiles.

The grounds for registration differ from building to building. The main house was registered as a model of form; the inner and north storehouses as structures that would be hard to reproduce; the new storehouse and kitchen, the east and south storehouses, the gate and the wall for their contribution to the historic streetscape. Read together, the criteria sketch a division of roles: a house at the center, two storehouses valued for their framing, and a ring of storehouses, gate and wall that shape the street.

Walking past the Fujita Family Residence

Because the Fujita Family Residence sits on both sides of Honmachi-dori, the best way to see it is simply to walk the street and compare the two frontages.

On the east side, the main house faces west behind the front gate and the wall. The wall divides separate forecourts for the reception rooms, the counting room (kanjōba) and the earthen-floored work area, changing its eave depth and height as it goes; the gate stands before the reception-room forecourt. The inner storehouse and the new storehouse and kitchen lie behind the main house and are hard to see from the street.

On the west side, the east storehouse turns its gable end to the street from the northeast corner of the lot. The north storehouse stands to its west and the south storehouse south of that. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the south gable of the south storehouse, with its projecting lattice and family crest, was composed with the approach to a shrine on that side in mind.

Visiting the Fujita Family Residence and getting there

The Fujita Family Residence is a private home, and none of the eight buildings is open to visitors. There are no opening hours or admission fees; viewing is limited to what can be seen from Honmachi-dori and other public roads. Please stay outside the gate and the grounds, and take photographs only from the street.

The historic quarter itself is open to walkers at all times and free of charge. Shimane Tourism Navi puts Gōtsu Honmachi at about 15 minutes on foot or about 5 minutes by car from JR Gōtsu Station on the San'in Main Line. Measured on coordinates from the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, the straight-line distance from the station to the Fujita Family Residence is about 650 meters.

By car, Shimane Tourism Navi gives about 5 minutes from Gōtsu IC on the San'in Expressway, while the Gotsu City Tourism Association gives 10 minutes. The association lists no parking for the district, so walking from the station or taking a taxi is the easier choice. Enquiries about the district go to the Gotsu City Tourism Association (tel. 0855-52-0534), and Shimane Tourism Navi notes that guided walks of the townscape are available.