Oka Family Residence

The Oka Family Residence

The Oka Family Residence (岡家住宅, Oka-ke Jūtaku) is a homestead in Nyugo, Kudoyama Town, Wakayama Prefecture, where five buildings centred on a main house and gatehouse of 1871 were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on September 10, 2019 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

According to the Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education, the Oka family administered Kanshōfu-no-shō, the most important of the estates that supported the temple complex of Mount Kōya, and kept close ties with the mountain; the present head of the family is said to be the 47th. The house is still a private home.

It sits on a river terrace on the south bank of the middle Kinokawa, at the very top of the hamlet of Nyugo, facing south (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The prefecture notes that the site looks out over the lands of the old estate.

How the Homestead Is Laid Out

The main house stands in the middle of the site (Wakayama Prefecture). In front of its western half lies the principal garden, closed off by the middle gate and its flanking walls. On the east side, toward the south, the long gatehouse runs at right angles to the main house; to the southwest the Heya annex, a detached reception wing, is joined to the house by a covered passage; and in the northwest corner the west storehouse and rice storehouse face east (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Wakayama Prefecture).

The buildings span several generations. The oldest is the west storehouse, from the late Edo period; the main house and the gatehouse went up together in 1871; the Heya annex and the rice storehouse were added in the late Meiji era, and the middle gate in the early Taisho era. The main house and gatehouse were renovated in 1995. The prefecture judges that each building keeps the character it had when built and adds to the historic landscape of the area.

Seen from the front, the tall hip-and-gable roof of the main house, with its attic storey, rises behind the long, low roof of the gatehouse and the small middle gate, and the stepped rooflines give the homestead its presence on the hillside.

The Five Registered Buildings

All five were registered on September 10, 2019, under consecutive numbers 30-0262 to 30-0266 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The middle gate was registered as a model of design; the other four for their contribution to the historic landscape.

• Main house (30-0262): 1871; single-storey timber, tiled roof, 112 square metres; a large farmhouse with a raised ridge vent on the main ridge
• Heya annex (30-0263): late Meiji era; single-storey timber, tiled roof, 60 square metres; a detached wing of two 8-mat reception rooms
• West storehouse and rice storehouse (30-0264): late Edo period, extended in the late Meiji era; two-storey earthen storehouse, tiled roof, 45 square metres
• Middle gate (30-0265): early Taisho era; timber, copper roof, 1.6 metres wide, with walls on either side
• Gatehouse (30-0266): 1871; single-storey timber, tiled roof, 69 square metres; a nagaya-mon gatehouse with a barn, a servants' room and a cattle stall

Each building has its own page describing its structure and details.

Visiting and Getting There

The Oka Family Residence is a private home, and no official information on public opening or interior visits could be found. If you go, stay outside the property and respect the privacy of the family who live there.

The nearest station is Kudoyama on the Nankai Koya Line; the homestead lies about 1.1 kilometres west-northwest of the station in a straight line (an estimate from the site and station coordinates). No parking information is published.

About the Name

The Agency lists each building as "Oka-ke Jūtaku" followed by the building name. A different property with the same name, the Oka Family Residence Main House in Hino, Shiga Prefecture, is also a Registered Tangible Cultural Property but belongs to another family (Agency for Cultural Affairs).