遠野の家　Tono House

Tono House in Iwate Prefecture

Tono House in Iwate Prefecture

Former House of the Kikuchi Family

This is English site


遠野の家の画像

Original location
Tono City, Iwate Prefecture
Period of construction
Mid-19th century (late Edo period)
Floor space
347m2 (105 tsubo)
Form of the house
Bent house of the Nambu area (Nambu magariya)
Donor
Mr.Kazuji Kikuchi
Tangible cultural property No. 3 of Kawasaki Town, Miyagi Prefecture (designated in 2000)
Supervisor: Dr. Kazuo Kusano, Professor Emeritus at Tohoku Institute of Technology

Original location

This house stood in a village where there was not enough farmland and horse breeding played an important role.
Members of the Kikuchi family were engaged in horse breeding while working as farmers.

Characteristics of the house – bent house

The form of this house is curved (called “magariya”). The stables extended out from the dirt-floored space in the main house, forming an L shape, and the entrance was located at the corner.
Inside the “bent house”, people and horses lived face to face.
The stables in this house were so large that they could keep four or more horses. If the barn was also used, a maximum of seven horses could be bred.




遠野の家平面図

Maya Niwa Chanoma Nakama Joi, Nedoko Zashiki Okuzashiki /> </map> <p class=Floor plan of Tono House. Scale = 1:60

This was originally built as a separate annex beside the main house. However, when the maya was rebuilt in the Taisho period (around 1920), it was connected to the dirt floor of the main house, adopting the structure of a magariya (bent house).
This was used as a work area during the winter, on rainy days and at night. The large kamado (furnace) was used to boil horse feed.
The irori (open fireplace) was mainly used for cooking. It is believed that the residents used the room to eat meals and chat.
When formal guests visited the house, they were greeted by the owner in the chanoma and then taken to the zashiki (reception room) on the upper side through this nakama.
The joi was the living room that the family members regularly used. The three nedoko rooms on the left and right sides were the bedrooms for the husband and wife who owned the house as well as for their children.
This was the front room that led to the okuzashiki (back reception room). When ceremonies such as a coming-of-age celebration, a wedding, a funeral or a religious service were held at the house, the formal guests attending the ceremonies were received through the engawa (veranda) and were taken to this zashiki.
This was the formal guest reception room with a tokonoma, where formal guests were received during ceremonies such as a coming-of-age celebration, a wedding, a funeral, a religious service, etc.

Architectural model