Former Fukumoto Family Residence Main House

What Is the Former Fukumoto Family Residence Main House?

The Former Fukumoto Family Residence Main House (旧福元家住宅主屋, Kyū Fukumoto-ke Jūtaku Omoya) is a two-story timber house built in 1926 in Nishiyashiro, Suo-Oshima Town, Yamaguchi Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on February 17, 2022.

It is the core building of the estate that Fukumoto Chōemon raised in his home district of Yashiro after making his money as a trader in the United States. The building area is 294 m², under a hip-and-gable (Irimoya-zukuri) roof laid with pantiles (Sangawara-buki). From the lane it reads as a large, conventional Japanese house on an Inland Sea island.

Walk through to the board-floored kitchen and the picture changes. Fukumoto installed an oven he had shipped home from America, a sink with taps, and a supply of water piped in from the well on his own grounds. Renovated in 1998, the main house now serves as the gallery space of the Japan Hawaii Immigration Museum.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency for Cultural Affairs registered the Former Fukumoto Family Residence Main House as "a model of design." Its three neighbors on the estate, the storehouse, the well and water tower, and the walls, were listed for their contribution to the landscape; the main house alone was recognized for its design and planning.

The plan is built around a two-story block running north to south, with wings of formal Zashiki rooms extending out to enclose an inner courtyard. The finishes are Japanese throughout. Yamaguchi Prefecture's heritage notes single out carved Ranma transoms as traditional work, while pointing to the ceilings of the Western-style room and the stair handrails as places where a taste for the West shows through.

The second strand of the assessment is plumbing. The Former Fukumoto Family Residence Main House had an oven and other kitchen fittings, washbasins and similar sanitary fixtures, and a water system feeding the bath and kitchen from the well. On an island that had no public mains, Fukumoto built his own running water. The prefecture reads this as a sign of the comfortable way of life that returning emigrants brought home with them.

What makes the building worth studying is the division of labor. The facade and the reception rooms follow tradition; the kitchen and the water supply, where daily work was heaviest, were rebuilt on American lines.

What to Look For

Start at the entrance on the south side. It is the view the national database uses as the lead photograph of the Former Fukumoto Family Residence Main House, and it shows the Japanese front under its hip-and-gable roof.

Inside, do not skip the kitchen. The database's second photograph is of the cooking area, its taps and its tableware: a corner of board floor and metal faucets tucked into the back of a Japanese mansion.

Then trace where Japan gives way to the West: the carved transoms in the tatami rooms, the ceiling of the Western-style room, the profile of the stair rail. The layout of the courtyard wings makes more sense once you have walked the whole circuit and can place the courtyard in your head.

Visiting the Main House

The Former Fukumoto Family Residence Main House is the museum building, so a ticket on any opening day lets you walk through the interior, including the tatami rooms and the kitchen. Because the rooms double as galleries, you will find emigration exhibits laid out in them.

Photography is not permitted inside, so limit your pictures to the exterior. The building is wheelchair accessible; call ahead and staff will direct you to a parking spot. Opening hours, admission and directions from the station are on the page for the Former Fukumoto Family Residence as a whole.