Hagihara Family Residence (Nakamatsuya)

What Is the Hagihara Family Residence (Nakamatsuya)?

The Hagihara Family Residence (Nakamatsuya) is a merchant's compound on the old Koshu Kaido highway in Katsunuma, Koshu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, whose five buildings, dating from the late Edo period (1830–1868) to the mid-Meiji period, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on May 10, 2018.

The name is written 萩原家住宅 and read Hagihara-ke jūtaku. Visitors who know the more common reading "Hagiwara" should note that the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Yamanashi Prefecture and Koshu City all give "Hagihara" for this family. Nakamatsuya (仲松屋) was the family's shop name, and Koshu City refers to the property as "Hagihara Family Residence (Nakamatsuya)". Other registered buildings share the same kanji in Yao, Kofu and elsewhere; this page covers the one in the old post town of Katsunuma-juku.

Katsunuma-juku and the Founding of Nakamatsuya

Katsunuma-juku was created as a new post station on the Koshu Kaido in 1618. Sitting at the eastern gateway to the Kofu Basin, it handled much of the traffic in goods between the basin and Edo (Tokyo). According to Koshu City, its streetscape grew from two-story, mezzanine and single-story houses, joined after the Meiji Restoration by two- and three-story earthen storehouses. A merchant house here typically had a through passage of beaten earth behind a heavy front door, a shop counter and accounting desk facing the street, and storehouses and a small courtyard garden at the back.

The Hagihara property was once two separate lots. The present head of the family explains that his great-grandfather Gensuke bought the eastern lot first, known as the East Yashiki, and later added the western lot, the West Yashiki. When Gensuke moved into the eastern house he branched off from the parent house of Kamimatsuya and adopted the name Nakamatsuya.

Koshu City dates the East Shop and Main House, the West Shop and the West Zashiki to the late Edo period, standing by 1881 at the latest, the year Gensuke bought the eastern lot. Ink inscriptions date the West Storehouse to 1880. The East Storehouse uses machine-made Western nails rather than the hand-forged Japanese nails of the West Storehouse, which places it in the mid-Meiji period.

Layout of the Hagihara Family Residence

The Hagihara Family Residence stands on the south side of the old highway, and every building faces north onto the street. From east to west, the East Storehouse, the East Shop and Main House and the West Shop line the frontage. Behind the West Shop is the West Zashiki, and at the far southern end of the lot stands the West Storehouse. The East Storehouse sits against the earth-floored side of the main house.

The two eastern buildings occupy the former East Yashiki and the three western ones the former West Yashiki, so the original division of the two lots can still be read on the ground. From the street, a run of fine wooden lattices covers the openings of the East Shop and Main House and the West Shop, and at the eastern end rises the gable of the East Storehouse with its stacked hinged windows. The best way to read the frontage is from the opposite side of the street, moving a few steps east and west.

The Five Registered Buildings

Following a recommendation by the Council for Cultural Affairs on March 9, 2018, the five buildings of the Hagihara Family Residence became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Buildings) on May 10, 2018. All five were registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation.

• Hagihara Family Residence East Shop and Main House: late Edo period, renovated in 1970. 2-story wooden building, 204 m² building area
• Hagihara Family Residence East Storehouse: mid-Meiji period (1883–1897). 2-story earthen storehouse, 104 m²
• Hagihara Family Residence West Shop: late Edo period, renovated in 2012. 2-story wooden building, 86 m²
• Hagihara Family Residence West Zashiki: late Edo period. Single-story wooden building, 128 m²
• Hagihara Family Residence West Storehouse: 1880. 2-story earthen storehouse, 48 m²

Yamanashi Prefecture describes the group as two townhouses side by side on the highway, linked to the storehouse parlors of the East and West Storehouses, preserving traditional Machiya architecture that shapes the scene of the former post town.

Visiting the Hagihara Family Residence

The Hagihara Family Residence is privately owned and lived in, and the interiors are normally closed. The exterior can be seen from the old Koshu Kaido. The owners opened the house for a single day on November 17, 2018, and hosted a tea gathering on October 5, 2019 during the Katsunuma Grape Festival. There are no regular opening days, so check Koshu City's cultural property notices for any future opportunity (checked October 2026).

There is no admission fee or opening schedule, and the grounds cannot be entered. If you photograph from the street, take care not to capture the windows of the living quarters or the residents.

The nearest station is Katsunuma-budokyo on the JR Chuo Line. The Yamanashi Tourism Organization's Katsunuma-juku walking course puts the walk from the station to its starting point at the Katsunuma Clan Residence Site at about 25 minutes, and also lists the Kamimachi stop on the Koshu City community bus. The Hagihara Family Residence lies along the old highway beyond that starting point, and the Former Tanaka Bank Museum, the next stop on the same course, is about 350 meters or 5 minutes away on foot.