What the Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House is
The Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House (判屋船越家住宅主屋, Hanya Funakoshi-ke Jūtaku Omoya) is a late Meiji-period (1898 to 1912) townhouse in Tenjinmachi, Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture, built for a family of shipping agents and facing north toward the Kamo River; it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 14, 2021. It is a 2-storey timber building under a gabled roof of pantiles, entered on the long side in the Hirairi manner, with a building area of 337 square meters.
Yonago City explains that the main house is the centerpiece of the buildings that Seitarō Funakoshi, the eleventh head of the family, rebuilt over three years from 1900. It measures 6.5 ken along the street and 8 ken deep, the ken being the traditional unit of building width. The upper floor is unusually tall, and the city reads the joinery as clear evidence of a late Meiji date.
The plan is split lengthwise. The eastern half is an earthen-floored work area, and a passage of beaten earth, the Toriniwa, runs all the way back to the kitchen hearths and the well. The western half holds a single file of four rooms. Beyond them, linked under a lower roof in the Ochimune manner, is a wing of three formal rooms with its own small front garden: in the city's description, a front reception room, a Buddhist altar room and an inner reception room.
Why the Funakoshi main house was registered
The registration criterion for the Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House is that it contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a fine modern townhouse surviving in the former castle town of Yonago.
Yonago City singles out two qualities. The first is continuity: after the rebuilding around 1900 the house still follows the pattern of Yonago Machiya that goes back to the Edo period. The second is craftsmanship in the formal rooms. Both the front and the inner reception rooms have a Tokonoma alcove, display shelves and a writing bay, worked out with the refinement of a well-to-do merchant's house.
In the middle of the house is the nakanoma, a room left open to the roof as a Fukinuke void, with a household shrine set high up. The Street Museum guide supervised by Yonago City points out that the shrine shelf over the earthen floor honors Funadama, the guardian spirit of ships, a detail it treats as typical of a shipping agent's home.
Details to look for on the Hanya Funakoshi main house
From the street, the façade of the Hanya Funakoshi main house shows a Geya lean-to roof along the ground floor, a large entrance door and projecting Degōshi lattice windows. The upper floor has flat lattices, and its generous height gives the front the open, upright look of a late Meiji townhouse.
The big entrance door is of the suspended type, with a small wicket door set into it. The city regards it as a survival of an older style.
Inside, the most admired feature is the space above the toriniwa. There is no ceiling, so the whole roof frame is exposed. Yonago City describes yellowish earthen walls set against reddish pine beams and posts that carry the great roof, and sees in that contrast the quality and strength of the house.
South of the toriniwa a gabled roof continues as far as the east storehouse, sheltering the hearths, the well, a bathroom, a lavatory and a miso shed in a row. The inner reception room looks across a veranda to the dry garden, and a corridor from its southwest corner leads to a lavatory that projects into the garden. According to Street Museum, a better-appointed lavatory and bath, the kami-benjo and kami-yudono, also project from the formal side of the house, apart from the service area along the toriniwa.
Seeing the Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House
The Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House is a private home, and the interior is not open to the public. The exposed roof frame, the shrine in the nakanoma and the reception rooms cannot be seen from outside.
What you can see is the front, viewed from the street on the Kamo River side: the entrance door and lattice windows, the flat lattices upstairs and the lean-to roof. Photograph only from the public road, and do not step onto the doorstep or aim a camera through an open door. Directions to the property are on the Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Tottori
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House
- [ Tottori Sand Dunes & Camel Riding Experience ]
Q&A
- Can I go inside the Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House?
- No. The Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House is a private home and the interior is closed. The exterior can be viewed from the street.
- When was the Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the late Meiji period (1898 to 1912). Yonago City says Seitarō Funakoshi rebuilt the house over three years starting in 1900.
- What should I look at on the front of the Hanya Funakoshi main house?
- The large entrance door and projecting lattice windows on the ground floor, the flat lattices upstairs and the lean-to roof. The tall upper floor is typical of late Meiji townhouses.
- Why is there a shrine to the ship spirit in the Hanya Funakoshi main house?
- The Funakoshi family worked as shipping agents for generations. Funadama is the guardian spirit of ships, and the city-supervised guide notes that honoring it over the earthen floor is characteristic of a shipping agent's house.
- Why is the Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered on October 14, 2021, as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. It is valued as a fine modern townhouse in old Yonago with well-crafted reception rooms.
Basic Information
| Name | Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | Tenjinmachi 2-chome 37 and other lots, Yonago City, Tottori Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered October 14, 2021 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 337 m² |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Exterior only (interior not open to the public) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014081
- Cultural Heritage Online: Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence Main House (Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/544621
- Yonago City: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, Hanya Funakoshi Family Residence (Japanese)
- https://www.city.yonago.lg.jp/36781.htm
- Street Museum: Yonago Castle, supervised by Yonago City (Japanese)
- https://www.streetmuseum.jp/historic-site/shiro/2026/10/14/295/
Last verified: 2026.10.14
