What the Nakasuji Family Residence Main House Is
The Nakasuji Family Residence Main House (中筋家住宅主屋, Nakasuji-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is the principal dwelling of the Nakasuji family estate in the Wasa district of Negi, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture; it was built in 1887 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 11 December 1998. It is a large single-storey timber farmhouse under a Sangawara-buki pantiled roof.
The family is a branch of the Nakasuji who served as ōjōya, district headmen, for the Wasa group of villages; it split from the senior line in the Ansei era (1854–1860), so the house went up some 30 years after the branch was founded. Its building area is 205 square metres. The other four registered buildings on the estate add up to 153 square metres, so the main house alone is larger than all of them together.
It stands behind the Nagayamon gatehouse that faces the prefectural road on the east, roughly in the middle of the plot, with gate and storehouses forming a ring around it.
Why It Was Registered
The Nakasuji Family Residence Main House was registered as a structure that would not be easy to reproduce. The other four buildings on the estate were all registered for their contribution to the landscape, which makes the main house the only one judged on the quality of the building itself.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out two features: deep sashigamoi beams and a veranda of cherry wood in front of the formal rooms, and describes the house as built of plentiful good timber with a high level of skill. A sashigamoi is a heavy horizontal beam spanning between posts. It carries the sliding doors below it and also takes load from above, and the deeper the beam, the wider the opening it can bridge without an extra post. Cherry is hard and close-grained, a demanding choice for veranda boards.
That a branch family could gather timber of this quality for a house on this scale in the mid-Meiji years says something about the standing the Nakasuji still held in the district.
What to Look For
The interior is not open, so there is no chance to see the beams or the veranda. What a visitor can grasp is the house's place in the estate.
The gatehouse on the east and the detached parlor and west storehouse on the north form the outer edge, and the main house sits inside them. That arrangement matches the way the buildings were registered: the four outer ones for how they shape the view from the road, the Nakasuji Family Residence Main House for what it is. From the road you see the shell of the estate; its centre lies behind.
The difference in scale is striking. Against the main house's 205 square metres, the gatehouse covers 50 square metres and the smallest building, the utility building, just 11 square metres. The figures alone show how much of the household's life was concentrated here.
Visiting
The main house is a private home, and neither the interior nor the grounds are open (checked 26 September 2026). Because it stands inside the gatehouse, little of it can be seen from the road.
Please do not peer through the gate or point a camera at the windows.
Directions to the estate and general visiting conditions are on the Nakasuji Family Residence page.
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Q&A
- When was the Nakasuji Family Residence Main House built?
- In 1887. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 11 December 1998.
- Can you visit the Nakasuji Family Residence Main House?
- No. It is a private home and the interior and grounds are closed. It stands inside the gatehouse, so very little of it is visible from the road (checked 26 September 2026).
- Is the Nakasuji Family Residence Main House the same as the Former Nakasuji Family Residence?
- No. The Former Nakasuji Family Residence is the estate of the senior family, who served as district headmen. The Nakasuji Family Residence belongs to a branch that split off in the Ansei era. The senior family's house stands less than 300 metres to the north.
- Why is the Nakasuji Family Residence Main House a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered as a building that would not be easy to reproduce. The Agency for Cultural Affairs points to its deep sashigamoi beams, its cherry-wood veranda and the generous use of fine timber.
- How big is the Nakasuji Family Residence Main House?
- It is a single-storey timber house with a building area of 205 square metres, more than the 153 square metres of the other four registered buildings on the estate combined.
Basic Information
| Name | Nakasuji Family Residence Main House (中筋家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 316 Negi, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building), Registration No. 30-0021 |
| Year Designated | Registered 1998/12/11 (Heisei 10) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber building, tiled roof, building area 205 square metres |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (interior and grounds) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs Database: Nakasuji Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001000
- Cultural Heritage Online: Nakasuji Family Residence Main House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/185730
- Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education, Wakayama Cultural Heritage: Nakasuji Family Residence
- https://wakayama-bunkazai.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-spot-375/
Last verified: 2026.09.26
