Former Yamaju Tamura Family Residence

A Village Postmaster's Homestead on Shukubashi-dori

The Former Yamaju Tamura Family Residence (旧ヤマジュウ田村家住宅, Kyū Yamajū Tamura-ke Jūtaku) is a homestead in Fussa, Tokyo, made up of a main house built in 1902 and two storehouses, and all three buildings were entered on the national register as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on December 19, 2014. "Yamaju" is the family's trade name, written with the mark 仐.

This branch of the Tamura family split from the Tamura sake-brewing household of Fussa in 1902 and lived on the same plot for three generations, until 2012. In 1911 the family opened the Fussa post office directly across the street. Telegraph and telephone services followed in 1918, and a telephone exchange in 1921, which made the house a working hub of village communications in the early twentieth century.

The street out front, Shukubashi-dori, was the main street of Fussa village from the Meiji period into the early Showa period, according to the Fussa City Local History Museum. The parent household's brewery, the Tamura Sake Brewery, is also in Fussa and its storehouses are registered separately; it is a different property from the Former Yamaju Tamura Family Residence.

From Family Home to Public Property

After the last owner died in 2012, a cultural property survey confirmed the value of the buildings, and the city decided to acquire them. The house and storehouses, together with household tools and documents, were donated to the city in 2013, and the city bought the land in 2014.

On December 19 of that year the three buildings were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, numbers 13-0350 to 13-0352. Renovation work to prepare the Former Yamaju Tamura Family Residence for visitors was carried out in fiscal 2015, and it has been open to the public since May 2016.

The survey ran from fiscal 2014 to 2016 and covered architecture, household objects and written records. Its findings were published as volume 37 of the city's cultural property survey reports. The objects and documents left in the house, including records of local men who served in the Russo-Japanese War, were themselves registered as a Fussa City cultural property on March 22, 2023.

The Three Buildings of the Former Yamaju Tamura Family Residence

The site covers 1,959.59 square meters. The main house stands in the middle of the plot facing south, and the two storehouses stand side by side behind it to the north. Each building's date is recorded on a Munafuda, the ridge tag fixed in its roof space.

• Main House: 1902, remodeled in 1916. Single-story timber house with a tiled roof, 268 square meters in building area
• West Storehouse: 1904. Two-story Dozo-zukuri earthen-walled storehouse with a sheet-metal roof, 35 square meters
• East Storehouse: 1911. Two-story earthen-walled storehouse with a tiled roof, 34 square meters, built the year the post office opened

The main house was registered as a building that has become a model of its type, and the two storehouses as buildings that contribute to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the East Storehouse was built by the same master carpenter as the main house and the West Storehouse, so the three read as one consistent compound. Within 9 years of founding the household, the family had a full set: a house and two stores.

The two storehouses held different things. The West Storehouse kept the trays and lacquered bowls brought out for weddings and other household gatherings, while the East Storehouse, built after the post office opened, held equipment used at the office.

Visiting the Former Yamaju Tamura Family Residence

Fussa City runs the Former Yamaju Tamura Family Residence as a free public site. It is open from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and closed on Mondays (or the following weekday when Monday is a public holiday) and over the New Year holidays. Visitors can walk through the inside of the main house and the gallery on the ground floor of the East Storehouse. The roof space of the main house and the upper floors of both storehouses are closed.

Twice a year, in summer and from winter into spring, the main house hosts seasonal displays set out in its rooms. Groups can ask the Fussa City Local History Museum in advance (tel. 042-530-1120) for a 15 to 30 minute guided explanation by museum staff or volunteer guides, though this is not available on every date.

Smoking is not allowed anywhere on the grounds. The official pages do not say whether photography is permitted, so ask at the reception. The site's own phone number is 042-530-1140 (checked October 4, 2026).

Getting to the Former Yamaju Tamura Family Residence

The nearest station is Fussa on the JR Ome Line. From the west exit it is about a 7-minute walk. The city gives the address as 1158 Fussa, Fussa City; the national database lists it as 1158 Aza-Naga, Oaza Fussa.

There is a parking area behind the site. Shukubashi-dori in front of the house is one-way, running away from the station, so plan the turn into the back lot accordingly. Buses and other large vehicles cannot use the street.