What the Fujita Family Residence Main House is
The Fujita Family Residence Main House (藤田家住宅主屋, Fujita-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a timber house built in 1853 in Gotsucho, Gotsu City, Shimane Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on January 8, 2009.
The house faces west onto Honmachi-dori, the old main street of Gōtsu Honmachi, and covers 270 square meters. Eight parts of the Fujita estate were registered on the same day, and the Fujita Family Residence Main House is the only one with a known construction year; the storehouses, gate and wall are dated only as "late Edo" or "early Meiji."
A red-tiled roof with a crosswise smoke vent
The Fujita Family Residence Main House has a gabled kirizuma-zukuri roof laid with red Sekishu tiles, the glazed tile produced in and around Gōtsu. A smoke vent, a small roof of its own, sits on the ridge at right angles to it. It let out the smoke of fires lit in the earthen-floored work area, and from the street it gives the long ridgeline a small crossing gable.
Lean-to geya eaves run around all four sides of the main roof, and a hipped wing, a tsunoya, projects from the back. Gable at the front, lean-tos around the edge, hip at the rear: the builders combined three roof forms to cover the large plan. The walls are finished in white shikkui lime plaster of the ōkabe type, which buries the posts inside the wall.
One detail needs care. The structure field in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database describes the Fujita Family Residence Main House as a single-story timber building, while the commentary on the same page calls it a tsushi two-story house, meaning the roof space is used as a low upper floor. From outside it reads as almost single-story. The basic information below follows the structure field.
An earthen work area and a six-room plan
Inside the Fujita Family Residence Main House, the doma earthen-floored work area occupies the north end and the raised living quarters the south. The living quarters follow a rokumadori layout, six rooms arranged in two rows of three.
The registration notes for the estate's wall mention three forecourts in front of the house: one for the zashiki reception rooms, one for the kanjōba counting room, and one for the doma. The street front was divided according to who came to which door: guests to the reception rooms, business to the counting room, goods to the work area.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out two features inside: a massive beam framework and refined reception rooms. Heavy timber and polished guest rooms, two very different kinds of space, share one roof.
Why the Fujita Family Residence Main House was registered
The Fujita Family Residence Main House was registered under the criterion for buildings that serve as a model of form. What earns that label here is how cleanly the whole is resolved: a gabled roof with a smoke vent, lean-tos and a hipped rear wing outside, and an earthen work area beside a six-room living block inside.
It is the only one of the eight Fujita buildings registered on this ground. The inner and north storehouses were registered as hard to reproduce, and the other five for their contribution to the historic streetscape. The house is the model at the center; the storehouses, gate and wall around it shape the street.
Visiting the Fujita Family Residence Main House
The Fujita Family Residence Main House is a private home and its interior is not open to visitors. No official information about viewing the beams or the reception rooms could be found.
The exterior can be seen from Honmachi-dori. Because the house faces west, its front is in sunlight in the afternoon. The ridge and smoke vent are easier to take in from the opposite side of the street than from directly below. Please stay outside the front gate and the forecourts, and take photographs only from the public road.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Shimane
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Fujita Family Residence Main House
- [ Izumo Taisha Shrine & Adachi Museum Gardens ]
Q&A
- When was the Fujita Family Residence Main House built?
- In 1853. It is the only one of the eight registered parts of the Fujita Family Residence with a known construction year, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on January 8, 2009.
- Can I go inside the Fujita Family Residence Main House?
- No. The Fujita Family Residence Main House is a private home, and no official interior viewing is announced. The exterior can be seen from Honmachi-dori.
- Is the Fujita Family Residence Main House one story or two?
- The database structure field says single-story timber, while the commentary on the same page describes a tsushi two-story house with a low upper floor in the roof space. From outside it looks close to single-story.
- What is the small roof on top of the Fujita Family Residence Main House?
- It is a smoke vent, set at right angles to the main ridge, that let smoke from fires in the earthen-floored work area escape.
- Under which criterion was the Fujita Family Residence Main House registered?
- As a model of form. It is the only one of the eight Fujita buildings registered on that ground.
Basic Information
| Name | Fujita Family Residence Main House (藤田家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 328 Gotsucho, Gotsu City, Shimane Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2009 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 270 square meters |
| Owner | Private (no owner name listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (exterior visible from Honmachi-dori) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Fujita Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007536
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Fujita Family Residence Wall
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007543
- Tenryo Gotsu Honmachi Iraka Kaido (Gotsu City)
- https://www.city.gotsu.lg.jp/soshiki/4/4657.html
Last verified: 2026.09.29
