Ota Family Residence

The Ota Family Residence

The Ota Family Residence (太田家住宅, Ōta-ke Jūtaku) in Tomieda, Yazu Town, Tottori Prefecture, is the estate of a wealthy farming family; its main house of 1897, the Shindate annex of 1933 and the gate row house were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on June 28, 2017 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Tottori Prefecture's heritage guide records that three generations of the family served as village head between the Meiji and Showa eras, and that in the Taisho era the family opened the Tampi post office on its own grounds, with the head of the house as first postmaster. A prefectural case study adds that the Otas held large tracts of forest and farmland and ran businesses in forestry, timber milling, silk farming and moneylending.

The family's own account traces the house to a branch line founded at the end of the Edo period, and credits the third head (甚四郎) with reviving its fortunes and serving as the first village head. The oldest building on the estate is said to date from 1884, though it is not one of the three registered.

How the Estate Is Laid Out

The estate lies on the north side of the prefectural road. The gate row house faces the road and closes off the south end of the site; behind it stand the main house, the Shindate annex and several storehouses, nine in all by the prefecture's count (Tottori Prefecture). The main house has its earth-floored Doma entrance at the southeast corner, and the Shindate annex joins the west end of its rear side by a corridor (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Tottori Prefecture).

• Main house: 1897; timber, 2 storeys with a single-storey section, tiled roof, building area 231 square metres; registration number 31-0226
• Shindate annex: 1933; single-storey timber, tiled roof, building area 73 square metres; registration number 31-0227
• Gate row house: about 1897, altered in 1915; single-storey timber, tiled roof, building area 49 square metres; registration number 31-0228

All three were registered as models of design. The main house is finished in rubbed lacquer, the Shindate annex in bare timber, two quite different approaches within one estate (Tottori Prefecture). Each building has its own page.

Part of a Japan Heritage Story

The three buildings are also component properties of a Japan Heritage story recognized in 2019, which follows the coast and mountains of the Inaba and Tajima regions and the kirin lion dances performed there (日本海の風が生んだ絶景と秘境) (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Tottori Prefecture).

The Japan Heritage portal points to the estate's setting against the Chugoku Mountains and to features suited to heavy snow, such as high windows that let light into the doma.

A Second Life as a Country Inn

According to the prefectural case study, the estate was renovated between September 2017 and March 2018. The structure and fittings were kept, while the baths, toilets and kitchen were modernized and sprinklers fitted throughout. The rice and tableware storehouses became a multipurpose hall, and the old post office in the gate row house became a café.

The project took an excellence award in the 2023 vacant-house reuse contest and appears in the prefecture's collection of examples. Today the estate runs as Kominka Ōtatei (古民家 太田邸), with lodging, Café Hitotsuyama and rental space (Ota-tei).

Visiting

The Ota Family Residence is not open as a museum, and Tottori Prefecture's heritage guide lists it as closed to the public. The way inside is as an overnight guest, a renter of the rooms or a customer of the café.

The inn takes one party a day for the whole house; check-in runs from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and check-out is by 10 a.m. It closes for the New Year holidays from December 28 to January 5, and the rooms and grounds are entirely non-smoking. Rental space starts at ¥1,100 an hour including tax, with bookings taken from 10 days ahead. The website gives no opening days or hours for the café, so contact the inn before you go.

The gate row house fronts the prefectural road, and its exterior can be seen from the street. No official guidance on photography was found.

The nearest station is Tampi on the Wakasa Railway, a 7-minute walk by the inn's reckoning and 9 minutes according to the prefecture. The Wakasa Railway runs between Koge Station on the JR Inbi Line and Wakasa Station. The inn's access page also gives parking information.