Former Uchiyama Family Residence (Toyama)

About the Former Uchiyama Family Residence (Toyama)

The Former Uchiyama Family Residence (旧内山家住宅, Kyū-Uchiyama-ke Jūtaku) is the estate of the Uchiyama family, wealthy farmers of Etchū province, at 903 Miyao, Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, where 14 structures led by a main house built in 1868 were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 1998.

In August 1977 the thirteenth head of the family, Uchiyama Suetomo, handed the estate over to Toyama Prefecture. It is now open as an annex of the Toyama Prefectural Hall under the name Gōnō no Yakata Uchiyama-tei, "the Uchiyama house, mansion of a wealthy farmer". The prefecture owns it and the Toyama Cultural Foundation runs it.

A registered property in Ono, Fukui Prefecture, shares the same Japanese name, so this site adds the place name: Former Uchiyama Family Residence (Toyama).

The Family That Farmed Miyao

According to the Toyama Cultural Foundation, the Uchiyama story begins between 1521 and 1531, when Uchiyama Masamine cleared new rice land at Miyao. The family were independent large farmers who turned the floodplain of the Jinzū River into paddy, and in the line that the records can trace, Suetomo (1888 to 1981) was the thirteenth generation.

Under the Toyama domain the family served as tomura, village headmen in charge of farming and flood control across a district, and the lord of Toyama visited more than once. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes a tradition that the house served as the lord's lodging on hawking expeditions. The family's greatest prosperity came after 1868 as landlords, and guests included the writer Tokutomi Sohō and the politician Wakatsuki Reijirō.

The Uchiyama were also a literary family. The seventh head, Hayamine (1701 to 1780), left travel writing and poems; the twelfth, Matsuyo, known by his pen name Gaisen (1864 to 1945), sat in the national House of Representatives and loved Chinese poetry and the tea ceremony; and Suetomo's wife Kazuko was a poet of the Araragi school.

Most of the Former Uchiyama Family Residence was built in 1868 by the eleventh head, Uchiyama Toshihiko. Gaisen later added and refitted the formal rooms, a study wing and tea rooms during the Meiji era, giving the house its present form.

The Fourteen Registered Structures

The 14 structures of the Former Uchiyama Family Residence were registered together on July 23, 1998, under the consecutive numbers 16-0025 to 16-0038; Toyama Prefecture notes that every building on the estate was included. The Agency's database dates them as follows:

• Main house: 1868, with additions around 1887 and at the end of the Meiji era. Building area 860 m²
• Front gate: 1868
• North gate: Keiō era (1865 to 1868)
• Yauchō tea room: 1879
• Unhulled rice storehouse and middle gate: mid-Meiji era
• Storehouse, chicken coop, niwa workshop, rickshaw shed with drivers' hut and charcoal shed, east gate, back gate and well house: late Meiji era
• Sannyūan tea room: 1927

Three different grounds for registration apply. Six structures, namely the main house, front gate, middle gate, Yauchō tea room, well house and chicken coop, were registered as hard to reproduce; the Sannyūan tea room as a model of form; and the remaining seven for their contribution to the historic landscape.

Toyama Prefecture reports a major restoration between fiscal 2005 and 2011 that returned the buildings to their original appearance.

How the Former Uchiyama Family Residence Is Laid Out

The main house stands near the centre of the Former Uchiyama Family Residence. The front gate is roughly in the middle of the western boundary, and west of the main house a stone middle gate divides the garden in front of the reception rooms from the forecourt. South of the main house, near the southern edge of the plot, is the Sannyūan tea room.

A long storehouse runs along the eastern boundary east of the main house, with the Yauchō tea room attached to its south end. The east gate and back gate open in the eastern boundary, the chicken coop stands near the northeast corner, and the north gate is towards the eastern end of the northern boundary.

North of the main house lay the working side of the estate. The rickshaw shed, drivers' hut and charcoal shed extend north from the main house, the well house sits to their east, and the niwa workshop lies further east again. The unhulled rice storehouse stands northwest of the charcoal shed. According to the Agency, the long rickshaw-shed wing screens the working yard at the back from the front garden.

The garden centres on a huge Fuji-shaped stone, the Tanzan Zuiseki, set directly south of the formal rooms. To the east is a plum orchard of about 60 red and white trees with a view of the Tateyama range, and there are large cherry trees of four different kinds. Each building's structure and details are covered on its own page.

Visiting the Former Uchiyama Family Residence

The Former Uchiyama Family Residence is open as Gōnō no Yakata Uchiyama-tei from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is closed on Tuesdays and over the New Year (December 29 to January 3).

Admission is 250 yen for adults, including university students. Children and school students, visitors aged 70 or over, and visitors with a disability certificate plus one companion enter free. Groups of 30 or more receive 10 percent off, and groups of 100 or more 20 percent off (checked September 2026).

By car the estate is about 10 minutes from Toyama Station and about 30 minutes from Toyama Interchange on the Hokuriku Expressway. By bus, take the Toyama Chitetsu bus bound for Yokata via Hachiman from stop 7 in front of Toyama Station, get off at Sumiyoshi Uchiyama-tei-guchi and walk about 15 minutes; the fare is 370 yen one way. The official site does not give the number of parking spaces.

No official guidance on photography could be found (checked September 2026), so ask at the reception before taking pictures indoors. Enquiries: 076-432-4567.

The Yanagihara Bunko, a storehouse-style library built in 1898 and reconstructed in 2015, stands on the grounds but is not one of the 14 registered structures.