Samurai Residences

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Samurai Residences / 武家屋敷

Introduction

This is a new project to highlight the samurai homes (bukeyashiki 武家屋敷) you sometimes find near castles. I will also include ashigaru dwellings, even though ashigaru are technically not samurai. I've only developed an interest in these in the last couple of years so I have missed many years of castle travels where I could have gathered even more information. Unfortunately, I cannot find even one good book in Japanese that discusses samurai homes in detail so I'm largely putting this together through what I've come to understand while visiting different sites over the years. I'm starting with areas that I know well and residences where the house still exists. Many places noted as "samurai homes" on maps only have a single gate or a storehouse remaining, but the main house is gone. I've documented many of these as well, but for the sake of bringing appropriate attention to these overlooked historical artifacts, I will first focus on residences where the house still exists.

Background

Dwellings in the castle towns were highly regulated by the local lord. All samurai kept their formal home near the castle. These samurai quarters are called Bukeyashiki or Samurai-yashiki. In the samurai quarters, the proximity to the castle and the size of the home were respective to the samurai's rank and standing with his lord. Samurai homes were typically modest dwellings but with the distinction that only samurai were allowed to have walls and gates. Samurai residences were technically the property of the local lord so he could change the residence (and rank) of a samurai at will. However, the samurai living there was responsible for maintenance and repairs.

During the Meiji Restoration, most castles around Japan were destroyed by Imperial edict, but (as far as I know) these homes were mostly untouched. Since they were simply houses, they were often sold to merchants and government officials, among others. At the time, there was little or no no particular historical significance attached to them, so most have been destroyed over the years to make way for more modern homes. It is not uncommon today to find sites designated as former samurai residences that are still being lived in and are not open to the public. As their owners age or people decide to move, more of these houses are being donated to or bought by the local government to be preserved for their historical value. Some of these houses have been moved to new locations or their land has been reduced to just the house so it is not easy to get the full picture of what the entire residence, including peripheral buildings and gardens, was like. Some of the best I have seen are around Matsushiro Castle

Some of the best places to see multiple good examples of samurai homes include:

  • Matsushiro Castle (Nagano) - my all time favorite castle town.
  • Kanazawa Castle (Ishikawa) - not many you can enter however
  • Hagi Castle (Yamaguchi) - another one of my favorites. I wish I had spent more time exploring the homes and castle town here
  • Murakami Castle (Niigata) - several homes reaction to one park
  • Bitchu Matsuyama Castle - three well preserved homes near the foot of the mountain. Rare in that the castle was a mountaintop castle.

Just because you have a well preserved castle town, however, it does not mean that you will also find a lot of samurai homes. There are some great castle towns like Iwamura Castle and Izushi Castle where you would will find nice examples of merchants' homes and other castle town structures but almost no good samurai homes.

Structure 構造

The Yokota Residence at Matsushiro Castle is one of the best examples of a samurai residence that I've seen. The home is of a middle class samurai in a rural area. The property and structure is almost completely original and retains all the main features of a residence. It is also recognized as an Important Cultural Property. The house itself is from the latter Edo Period so it may be a bit bigger and nicer than other residences from earlier in the Edo Period, but as far as I know it is still a very representative residence. You can also see the Maejima Residence also at Matsushiro Castle for another very representative middle class samurai residence. It was built in 1759 and is the oldest in Matsushiro.

In the map below, the main features you'll see are the main gate, home, stable, 2 storehouses, a formal garden and a vegetable garden.

Matsushiro52.jpg

Gates 表門

Samurai were the only people allowed to have a walled home and gate. Nagayamon type gates tend to be common for samurai homes. The large Nagayamon sometimes has a small room on either side of the gate that may serve as a stable, servants' quarters, quarters for retainers or lower ranking samurai, or may simply be used for storage. You may also see Yakuimon gates which tend to be more ornate.

Matsushiro204.jpg Matsushiro215.jpg

House 主屋

The main house (omoya or shuoku) is typically in the shoin zukuri style which indicates that it is built around a central main room and the interior is mainly covered in tatami straw mats (excepting the kitchen area) with rooms divided off the main one by sliding doors (fusuma or shoji). The main room has a recessed alcove (tokonoma) with shelves to display artworks or a space to hang scrolls. This room is also situated to view the formal garden in the back of the house. The formal room often have wood panel ceilings while the kitchen and other less formal areas are bare to the rafters. In the first photo below you can see the tokonoma, wood panel ceiling and the garden off to the right. The second photo highlights tatami rooms that are divided off by sliding doors and the last photo is of the kitchen where you can see the unadorned ceiling.

Matsushiro207.jpg Matsushiro211.jpg Matsushiro51.jpg

The house typically has an ornate front entrance for greeting guests of equal or higher rank and for the master to use as a formal entrance. In the picture below you'll also see the smaller non-descript doorway on the right (ohdoguchi 大戸口 ) that was used by others. The formal entrance has tatami mat room (genkan 玄関) with a wooden level before it called shikidai (式台). This is to formally greet or see off guests.

Matsushiro49.jpg

Japanese Garden 庭園

Every middle class or above samurai residence has a formal garden which may have been a focal point of entertaining and seasonal pleasantries. For the lower class samurai residences I've seen they often do not have a formal garden.

Matsushiro50.jpg Matsushiro201.jpg

Storehouses 蔵

A residence typically had one or more storehouses.

Matsushiro218.jpg Matsushiro216.jpg

Stable 厩

Stables seem to be bit more rare, at least extant ones at the residences that I have been to. In the case of the Yokota Residence, the actual stable is now gone but it has been rebuilt with this building of approximately the same size at the same location. It is now a public restroom. As mentioned under gates, I have also seen examples where one of the rooms off a Nagayamon gate are used as a stable.

Matsushiro210.jpg

Vegetable Garden 菜園

Samurai Residence also frequently had a vegetable garden in the back of the property, which you can see in the map above under Structure. Lower class samurai often had a small vegetable garden only and no formal garden.

This has been a basic introduction to samurai residences, please see some of these other excellent examples or refer to the list of all [Samurai Residence List|Samurai Residences] documented on Jcastle.info.


disclaimer: The information here is based entirely on my own impressions from visiting hundreds of castles and dozens of samurai homes. If you have found some good information or have a different idea on this matter please share through the comments box below or send me an email via the Contact form.