Endo Family Residence (Daisen)

About the Endo Family Residence (Daisen)

The Endo Family Residence (Daisen) (遠藤家住宅, Endō-ke Jūtaku) is an old family estate at 486 Bōryō, Daisen Town, Tottori Prefecture, where five structures, from a late Edo main house to an early Showa side gate, were entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2003.

Bōryō is a small settlement on the northwestern slopes below Mount Daisen, the highest mountain in the Chugoku region. The Agency for Cultural Affairs puts the estate at about 3,000 tsubo, close to a hectare. A large thatched main house sits in the middle; the front gate, a detached room and the side gate with its wall line the road on the east, and the household goods storehouse stands at the back.

Several unrelated Endo Family Residences elsewhere in Japan are also registered, so this site adds the town name: Endo Family Residence (Daisen).

A Village of the Daisen-ji Temple Estate

According to Daisen Town, Bōryō village lay inside the landholdings of Daisen-ji, the great mountain temple of the region. From around 1806 the Endo family served the temple as Daisen samurai (大山侍, Daisen-zamurai). Under Sairakuin, the temple's head lodge, they held posts such as okatte-yaku, a stewardship office, and played a real part in running the temple's estate.

The town describes the main house of the Endo Family Residence as having the air of a samurai dwelling, with a high standard of both design and workmanship. That status shows in the building itself, most clearly in the formal Shikidai entrance reserved for guests.

Daisen Town also lists the Endo Family Residence among its town-designated cultural properties, giving the date August 29, 2022. The town page does not say which buildings the local designation covers.

Five Structures of the Endo Family Residence

All five structures of the Endo Family Residence were registered on March 18, 2003, under the consecutive numbers 31-0059 to 31-0063; the official notice followed on April 8. In date order, following the Agency for Cultural Affairs database, they are:

• Main house: late Edo period (1751 to 1829); the town dates it to the second half of the 18th century
• Front gate and detached room: 1860 (Man'en 1), both dated by their Munafuda ridge tablets
• Household goods storehouse: end of the Edo period (1830 to 1867)
• Side gate: early Showa period (from 1926)

So four of the five are Edo-period buildings, with the Showa side gate and wall completing the perimeter. Only the storehouse was registered as a model of form; the other four qualify because they contribute to the historic landscape.

How the Endo Estate Is Laid Out

The Endo Family Residence faces a road along its east side. The main house stands near the center of the plot, facing east, and the front gate sits roughly midway along the east edge in front of it. Just north of the gate, the detached room shows the road a wall of latticed windows.

Farther north along the same edge is the side gate. From it a timber-framed wall runs north, then turns west to close off the north side of the estate. The household goods storehouse stands west of the main house, as far from the road as the plot allows.

The pages for each structure cover its construction and details.

Visiting the Endo Family Residence

The Endo Family Residence is a private home, and Daisen Town states that it is not open to the public. You cannot enter the grounds. What can be seen from the road on the east is the front gate, the detached room and the side gate with its wall; the main house shows only part of its roof beyond the gate, and the storehouse at the back is effectively out of sight.

No official guidance on photography could be found as of September 2026. If you take pictures from the road, keep residents, cars and the view into the grounds out of the frame.

Bōryō lies about 4 km southeast of Daisenguchi Station on the JR San'in Line, measured in a straight line. No visitor parking is signposted in any source we found. The village lanes are everyday roads, so avoid stopping where you would block them.