Tanaka Family Residence Main House

The House at the Front of the Plot

The Tanaka Family Residence Main House (田中家住宅主屋, Tanaka-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is an early Meiji-period farmhouse in Jinba, Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2008.

Of the five registered structures on the Tanaka property, this is the one the family lived in. It stands toward the front of a plot on the north side of the street, facing south, with the gate directly before it. It measures 9 and a half ken by 5 ken, the traditional bay used to size Japanese buildings, and covers 201 square metres, the largest footprint on the property. Every other building is placed in relation to it.

The roof is kayabuki thatch, and the thatch is still there, now sealed under iron sheeting that the national database records as a temporary covering. The house was renovated in 1972 (Showa 47).

Why It Was Registered

The Tanaka Family Residence Main House received registration number 06-0106 in the 61st round of national registrations, dated 2008/10/23, as a model of design. On this property only the parlor storehouse shares that criterion.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs presents the house as a dignified example of modern farmhouse architecture. Its plan follows a pattern common to farmhouses across Japan: work and cooking areas on one side, four rooms arranged in a square on the other, a layout known as tanoji after the character 田, a rice field divided in four. The Tanakas kept that working skeleton but added a formal reception room and put more rooms for guests upstairs. A farmhouse that doubles as a place to receive visitors in style is what makes this one worth keeping.

What to Look For

A thatched roof under iron

Sheathing thatch in sheet metal has long been a way for farm families to keep a roof's shape while sparing themselves the labour and cost of re-thatching. Because the thatch remains underneath, the roof keeps the deep, heavy outline of a thatched house, and it is that great roof that defines how the Tanaka Family Residence Main House looks.

Work to the west, rooms to the east

The west side holds the doma, an earth-floored work area, and the kitchen. The eastern half is given to four rooms set out in the tanoji square. The Agency's notes name one of them in katakana, "jōdan no ma", most likely the raised formal room known as jōdan-no-ma, where the floor steps up to mark the most honoured seat. Behind the four rooms runs a nando, or storeroom.

A partial upper floor

The database describes the structure as single storey with a partial 2nd floor, and that upper level holds a zashiki reception room, among others. Formal rooms on both levels suggest a household that entertained often.

Joined to its storehouses

From the nando at the back, a kuramae antechamber leads into the parlor storehouse, and the pickle storehouse is attached at the west end of the north wall, reached from inside. Read the house as one block with two storehouses on its back and the way it was used becomes clear.

Visiting

This is a private home and the interior is not open; as of October 2026 we found no announcement of open days. Because the house stands behind the street gate, passers-by can probably see little more than part of the roof above the gate and wall. Please stay off the property and respect the residents' privacy.

The photographs in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database are the most reliable way to see the house, and the iron-clad roof shows up clearly in them.