Tsuchiya Family Residence

A Large Farming Household on the Road North

The Tsuchiya Family Residence (土屋家住宅, Tsuchiya-ke Jūtaku) is an early Meiji farming estate of 1868 to 1882 in Enzan-Mikkaichiba, Koshu City, Yamanashi Prefecture, whose six structures (main house, zashiki gate and wall, bunko storehouse, rice storehouse, koji storehouse and rear gate) became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 2 May 2017. It stands on the road that runs from the town of Enzan toward Chichibu, at the northeastern rim of the Kofu Basin, on free-draining sandy ground laid down by the Fuefuki River.

All six are dated to the early Meiji era, and family tradition holds that the main house was built by the great-grandfather of the present head of the household. Read the Agency for Cultural Affairs descriptions side by side and a pattern appears: each building is defined by a job. The main house carries extra floors on its roof for raising silkworms. The rice storehouse held rice paid in rent by tenant farmers. The koji storehouse was built to culture koji, the mould behind miso, soy sauce and sake.

Collect rent in rice, raise silkworms, make koji: set the uses in a row and you have a working portrait of a substantial landholding family in Meiji-era Yamanashi. When the Agency writes that the rear gate shows what a large modern farming household looked like, the remark applies to the whole Tsuchiya Family Residence.

In the Showa era a new trade arrived. Kizan Winery, run by the Tsuchiya family, is described as founded in 1930, and the winery's own site says the family has been growing grapes and making wine and brandy in Enzan for more than ninety years. The storehouses changed jobs accordingly. From the Showa 30s (1955 to 1964) the ground floor of the rice storehouse was turned over to brandy, and the bunko storehouse now holds winemaking equipment. The estate is still a home, and still part of a working family winery.

Why Six Structures Were Listed on One Day

The six parts of the Tsuchiya Family Residence carry consecutive register numbers, 19-0092 to 19-0097, and were announced together in the 86th round of registration. Koshu City reported eight new registered buildings in the city that day, six of them here, which brought the city's total of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties to twenty-four.

Two different criteria were applied. The main house alone was listed as a model of form, a building whose design sets a standard. The other five were listed for their contribution to the historic landscape, valued as parts of a larger scene rather than as objects in their own right.

That split mirrors the plan of the place: the main house at the centre, with gates, wall and storehouses arranged around it to hold the estate together. The Agency's note on the zashiki gate and wall says as much, describing them as forming, with the main house, a high-quality landscape of a modern Japanese farmhouse. Individually these are modest gates and sheds. Together they let you read the layout of a Meiji farming estate.

How the Estate Is Laid Out

The Agency's descriptions are precise enough to reconstruct the layout of the Tsuchiya Family Residence. The main house stands at the centre, its entrance in the middle of the front. South of the house lies an inner garden, enclosed by the zashiki gate and a wall that turns a corner as it runs.

The bunko storehouse stands northwest of the main house and is joined to it by a covered passage. The rice storehouse sits behind the house. The koji storehouse is southeast of the house, about halfway along the eastern edge of the property. The rear gate opens in the north side, a little east of centre.

Garden and formal gate to the south; storehouses and service gate to the north and east. The plan reads as a guest side and a working side divided by compass direction. That reading comes from the positions in the descriptions, though; no record has been found of how the family itself divided the use of the estate.

Official addresses come in two forms. The main house and the three storehouses are listed at 3313-1 Enzan-Mikkaichiba, while the zashiki gate and wall and the rear gate carry the locality name Yashikizoe before the same lot number. They are all parts of one estate on one plot.

Visiting and Getting There

The Tsuchiya Family Residence is a private home, and none of the six structures is open inside. The estate doubles as Kizan Winery, whose shop offers tastings and sales; the winery's Japanese page states that tours of the cellar buildings and vineyards are not offered. No open days or viewing arrangements for the historic buildings were found (checked 24 September 2026).

The shop is open 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. There is no fixed weekly closing day, but staff may be unavailable during farm or cellar work, and the shop closes every September and October for the vintage. The 2026 notice gives the closure as 24 August to mid-October. Groups may be turned away depending on size, so call ahead on 0553-33-3024. Staff speak English, according to the prefectural tourism site.

If you hope to see the buildings from outside, ask at the shop how far into the grounds you may go and whether photographs are welcome. No photography policy has been published.

From Enzan Station on the JR Chuo Line the estate is about 10 minutes by car or taxi. Drivers should allow about 20 minutes from Katsunuma Interchange on the Chuo Expressway. Parking is limited to a few cars, and large coaches cannot enter. The winery's postal address is 3313 Enzan-Mikkaichiba, Koshu City.