A Farmhouse 7.6 Metres Long, Designated in 1969
The Former Domen Family Residence (Muikaichi Town, Kanoashi District, Shimane Prefecture) (旧道面家住宅（島根県鹿足郡六日市町）) is a late Edo farmhouse at 764 Shimegawa, Yoshika Town, Kanoashi District, designated an Important Cultural Property on 20 June 1969. The designation number is 01738 and the quantity is one building: 7.6 metres along the front, 6.0 metres deep, hip-and-gable roof, thatched. It belongs to the town of Yoshika.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is brief. Nothing definite is known of the Domen family, but the house shows the form of a comparatively small ordinary farmhouse. It was probably built no later than the second half of the eighteenth century. In the Iwami region, where early modern farmhouses are few, it is an important survival preserving the older manner.
The record disagrees with itself about the date. The era field reads first half of the nineteenth century, and the Western-calendar field spans 1801 to 1900, while the commentary says no later than the second half of the eighteenth century. The two ranges do not overlap. This article follows the commentary and notes the discrepancy.
A House That Survived Because It Was Small
The heart of the designation is that this house is not large.
At 7.6 by 6.0 metres it covers about 45 square metres, strikingly small among the farmhouses that hold Important Cultural Property status. Most preserved farmhouses across the country belonged to village headmen or wealthy farmers and are correspondingly big. The Agency's phrase, the form of a comparatively small ordinary farmhouse, is a judgement made against that background.
That nothing is known of the family fits the same judgement. The Agency opens by saying so. This was not the house of anyone who left a record, and that in itself tells what kind of building it is.
Early modern farmhouses are scarce in Iwami. In hilly country with hard winters, the small houses of ordinary people were rebuilt, altered or pulled down. That one remained, and kept its older form, is the ground for designation.
Low Eaves and a Thatched Hip-and-Gable Roof
What strikes the eye outside is how low the eaves are. The form keeps warmth in through mountain winters, and it gives the house a profile that hugs the ground.
The roof is thatched in the hip-and-gable form and is kept up by periodic rethatching. Thatched hip-and-gable roofs are found on Iwami farmhouses, and compared with a hipped or a gabled roof the gable end shows at the sides. On so small a house the roof takes up a large share of the whole, so the building reads as almost all roof.
Inside, the plan divides into an earthen-floored area and a raised-floor area. The earth floor held tools and served for cooking; the raised floor was for sleeping. There is no decoration, and the timber frame built from local material is left in view. The smallness of the rooms shows how closely an Edo farming family lived.
What the Older Manner Means
The older manner the Agency refers to is the form a house had before later alteration and modernisation. This one was lived in for a long time and yet escaped major change, which is what allows the judgement that it preserves that manner.
Farmhouse building in Iwami is held to belong to a different line from that of Izumo in the same prefecture. A single house cannot define a regional style, however, and the Agency's commentary says no more than important survival. This article stays within that limit.
What is certain is that a farmhouse of this size and date surviving in Iwami is rare. For more than half a century since designation the town of Yoshika has owned and maintained it.
Visiting
Admission is free. The exterior and interior can be seen, but there are periods when viewing is not possible because of thatch maintenance and management, so check with the Yoshika Town board of education on 0856-77-1285 before travelling. Ask about photography at the same time.
By car it is 15 to 20 minutes from the Muikaichi interchange on the Chugoku Expressway. From Nanokaichi Station on the JR Yamaguchi Line the bus takes about 15 minutes. The hamlet of Shimegawa lies in the hills and public transport is limited.
The house is small and a visit does not take long. The proportion of low eaves to large roof, though, reads far better in person than in photographs.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Shimane
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Domen Family Residence (Muikaichi Town, Kanoashi District, Shimane Prefecture)
- [ Izumo Taisha Shrine & Adachi Museum Gardens ]
Q&A
- When was the Former Domen Family Residence built and designated?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to no later than the second half of the eighteenth century. It was designated an Important Cultural Property on 20 June 1969, under number 01738, as one building. The era field of the same record reads first half of the nineteenth century, which does not agree with the commentary.
- Why was it designated?
- Because it shows the form of a comparatively small ordinary farmhouse, and because in Iwami, where early modern farmhouses are few, it preserves the older manner. Most preserved farmhouses belonged to headmen or wealthy farmers; a small house of ordinary people surviving unaltered is rare.
- How large is the house and how is it built?
- 7.6 metres along the front and 6.0 metres deep, about 45 square metres in all. The roof is thatched in the hip-and-gable form, and the eaves sit low so the house hugs the ground. Inside it divides into an earth floor and a raised floor, with no decoration.
- Who were the Domen family?
- The Agency says nothing definite is known of them. They were not people who left a record but an ordinary farming family whose name has not come down. That absence of record is itself a sign that this was the house of ordinary people.
- Can the house be visited?
- Admission is free and both exterior and interior can be seen, but viewing is suspended at times for thatch maintenance, so check with the Yoshika Town board of education on 0856-77-1285. It is 15 to 20 minutes by car from the Muikaichi interchange, or about 15 minutes by bus from JR Nanokaichi Station.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Domen Family Residence (Muikaichi Town, Kanoashi District, Shimane Prefecture) (旧道面家住宅（島根県鹿足郡六日市町）) |
|---|---|
| Location | 764 Shimegawa, Yoshika Town, Kanoashi District, Shimane Prefecture |
| Designation | Important Cultural Property (structure), category pre-modern farmhouse, designation no. 01738 |
| Year Designated | 1969 (20 June), designated |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 7.6 m along the front, 6.0 m deep, hip-and-gable roof, thatched. Late Edo period |
| Owner | Town of Yoshika |
| Public Access | Free. Exterior and interior can be seen. Viewing suspended at times; check with the Yoshika Town board of education |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Former Domen Family Residence
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/2986
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Domen Family Residence
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/190823
- Yoshika Town: places of interest
- https://www.town.yoshika.lg.jp/kankou/spot/kankoumeisho.html
Last verified: 2026.09.02