Nakamura Family Residence (Gotsu)

About the Nakamura Family Residence in Gotsu

The Nakamura Family Residence (中村家住宅, Nakamura-ke Jūtaku) is the estate of a former village headman in Onuki, Sakurae-cho, Gotsu City, Shimane Prefecture, whose seven structures, ranging from a late Edo-period storehouse to a main house built in 1882, were entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on January 8, 2009. They carry the consecutive registration numbers 32-0096 to 32-0102: six buildings (the main house, the back storehouse, the nando storehouse, the rice and sundries storehouse, the former village granary and the farm tool shed) plus the stone wall that encloses the estate.

All seven are Registered Tangible Cultural Properties. The main house was registered as a model of design, and the other six as structures that contribute to the historic landscape of the country. In its note on the stone wall, the Agency for Cultural Affairs singles it out as a reminder of how imposing a headman's (Shōya) household could be.

Every roof at the Nakamura Family Residence is laid with reddish-brown Sekishū tiles (Sekishū-gawara), the glazed tile of western Shimane, and the main house and storehouses have been finished in white Shikkui plaster. Red roofs over white walls, set against a wooded hillside, give the estate its character.

Several other properties in Japan share the name Nakamura Family Residence, including ones in Kitanakagusuku, Okinawa, and Minamiechizen, Fukui. This page covers the one in Onuki, Gotsu.

How the Nakamura Family Residence Took Shape

Arranged by the dates given in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database, the seven entries show an estate built up from the Edo period into the Meiji era.

• Stone wall: built in the early Edo period and repaired in the late Edo period (according to the period field)
• Rice and sundries storehouse: late Edo period (1751 to 1829), altered in the early Showa era
• Back storehouse: late Edo period (1830 to 1867), altered in the early Meiji era
• Former village granary: 1847, altered in the mid Showa era
• Main house: 1882, extended in 1885 and renovated in 1988
• Farm tool shed: around 1882
• Nando storehouse: early Meiji era, altered around 1953

The oldest building with a firm date is the former village granary of 1847, and it did not start out as the family's own store. According to the Agency, it was the gogura of the old Onuki village, a communal granary where unhulled rice was kept against famine. A village reserve placed in a corner of the headman's compound survived as part of the Nakamura Family Residence.

The present main house, from 1882, is younger than the back storehouse and the rice and sundries storehouse. It was extended three years later, and the farm tool shed went up at about the same time. The sequence suggests that the house and work buildings were rebuilt in the early Meiji era around storehouses and a stone wall that were already there. What happened to the earlier house is not recorded in the published sources.

The Layout of the Nakamura Family Residence

Hills close around the Nakamura Family Residence on the east and north. The two open sides, west and south, are held by the stone wall, and a passage known as the Kido-michi runs along the west side. The wall runs for 125 meters and rises toward the south.

The main house stands in the middle of the site, facing west. The back storehouse sits opposite the rear door of its earthen-floored work area, and the farm tool shed stands to the north. Southeast of the main house is the nando storehouse, with the rice and sundries storehouse beyond it to the south, and the former village granary fills the southeast corner. A fence once ran between the main house and the tool shed, dividing the grounds.

The plan puts the dwelling at the center, gathers the stores behind it and to the southeast, and fronts the estate with stone. The four storehouses are all two-story buildings in the Dozo-zukuri manner, with thick earthen walls and gabled roofs (Kirizuma-zukuri) of Sekishū tile. Each building has its own page with the details of its construction.

Visiting the Nakamura Family Residence

The Nakamura Family Residence is a private home. As of September 2026 we found no official notice of openings or of any way to arrange a visit, and the owner's name is not published. Visitors should stay off the property and look at the stone wall and buildings from the road.

We also found no guidance on photography. Since people live here, please do not walk up the Kido-michi passage, and avoid photographing residents, cars or laundry.

The estate lies in the hills of Sakurae-cho, about 18 kilometers east-southeast of JR Gotsu Station on the San'in Main Line in a straight line. That figure is calculated from map coordinates, and the distance by road is longer. We found no official information on public transport, so check your route before setting out.