Former Nomura Family Residence (Yamaguchi)

About the Former Nomura Family Residence (Yamaguchi)

The Former Nomura Family Residence (Yamaguchi) is the home of a sake brewer built around 1886 on the old Hagi Okan road in Shimotatekoji, Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Its main house and storehouse were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (structures) on August 23, 1999 (Agency for Cultural Affairs), and it is open to the public as the Manabikan of the Yamaguchi Furusato Heritage Center.

The registration numbers are 35-0025 for the main house and 35-0026 for the storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The owner is Yamaguchi City.

From Sake Merchant to Heritage Center

According to the Yamaguchi Furusato Heritage Center, the house was built in 1886 for a sake-brewing merchant family and donated to Yamaguchi City by 野村益次 in 1984. The city restored it in fiscal 1990, and it opened in May 1991 as the Takumikan and Manabikan of the Yamaguchi Furusato Heritage Center.

The main house is used for displays of traditional crafts and for room hire, and the grounds also hold the new Takumikan and the Miyabikan, a relocated and reconstructed house (Yamaguchi Furusato Heritage Center).

The Two Registered Structures

Both were registered on August 23, 1999, as structures contributing to the historic landscape of the country (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The main house is a two-storey timber townhouse with a tiled roof and a building area of 272 square metres, entered from the long side and built in fireproof clay-walled dozo style. Six rooms stand in two rows of three along an earth-floored passage, and the beams and lintels are of thick pine (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The storehouse stands near the centre of the wide plot facing the old Hagi Okan road, northeast of the main house. It is 3 bays by 2, with a separate roof set over the clay body, and a building area of 31 square metres; it held household goods and other family property (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

According to the Yamaguchi Furusato Heritage Center, the Manabikan is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission, and is closed from December 29 to January 5 and from August 14 to 16. Enquiries go to the center (083-928-3333).

The address is 12 Shimotatekoji, Yamaguchi City. It is about 25 minutes on foot from JR Yamaguchi Station, or about 20 minutes by car from the Ogori interchange of the Chugoku Expressway, with free parking for about 20 cars (Yamaguchi Prefecture tourism site).