The Former Kurosawa Residence is a historic traditional house in Ueno Village, Tano District, Gunma Prefecture. It was designated as a Nationally Designated Important Cultural Property on June 17, 1970.
Since 1979, the property has been owned by Ueno Village and carefully preserved and opened to the public as an important place for learning about the area’s history and traditional culture.
Believed to have been built in the mid-19th century, the residence is an imposing two-story wooden structure measuring approximately 22 meters wide and 16 meters deep. Its gabled design and substantial scale reflect the authority and status once held by the village’s leading families.
Despite standing deep in the mountains of Ueno, the house retains many features that convey the dignity and social standing of the village headman class during the Edo period.
During the Edo period, when the Tokugawa shogunate established its government in Edo, areas corresponding to present-day Ueno Village, Kanna Town, and part of the former Mimahara Village became tenryō, or territories directly controlled by the shogunate.
This area was known as the Yamanaka Domain and was divided into three districts: Kamiyama-go, Nakayama-go, and Shimoyama-go. It was administered by a succession of 27 appointed magistrates.
The Kurosawa family was a prominent local family that served for generations as the chief village representative of Kamiyama-go. The family played a central role in regional administration.
According to family tradition, the Kurosawas descended from the Kanmu Taira clan and are said to have served the Hōjō clan during the Warring States period. After the fall of the Hōjō, the family is believed to have moved to this area, where it continued to oversee a wide area throughout the Edo period.
At the time, 27 designated areas in Kamiyama-go were maintained as protected grounds for hawks. Young hawks were presented to the shogun’s family for falconry, an activity associated with the warrior elite.
The Kurosawa family also served as guardians of the shogunate’s forests and was involved in managing Mount Osutaka. These responsibilities demonstrate the family’s close relationship with the Tokugawa administration.
The Former Kurosawa Residence is a two-story wooden building with a gabled roof covered with wooden boards and held down by stones. Its floor area is approximately 348 square meters, making it considerably larger than a typical farmhouse of the period.
The roof uses chestnut wood shingles, a practical roofing material well suited to the mountainous environment. Boards approximately 30 centimeters long and 6 millimeters thick were layered across the roof, with stones placed on top to protect them from strong winds.
At the preserved residence, approximately 1,100 bundles of chestnut boards and 3,400 roofing stones are used. These details offer an excellent example of the practical knowledge and craftsmanship developed in Japan’s mountain villages.
Three different entrances are located along the southern side of the building: the “Tobōguchi,” or large entrance, the “Muragenkan,” or village entrance, and the formal “Shikidai” entrance.
The large entrance led directly to the earthen-floored area and was used for everyday activities. The Muragenkan was used for village events and other more formal occasions.
The most prestigious entrance was the Shikidai. It was designed to accommodate important visitors, such as government officials, arriving by palanquin. The floorboards at this entrance were set relatively low to make it easier for passengers to enter and leave.
Beyond the Shikidai is a space known as the “Oshirasu”, a formal room whose name evokes the judicial spaces seen in historical Japanese dramas. Its carefully designed layout demonstrates how the residence differed from an ordinary farmhouse.
At the heart of the residence is the “Chanoma”, an exceptionally large room measuring approximately 31.5 tatami mats in area.
A traditional irori hearth is located in the center, while part of the room has an open ceiling extending upward through the second floor.
Behind the principal seat is an elaborate household Shinto altar approximately 2 meters high, designed in a style reminiscent of a castle. Its impressive appearance symbolizes the family’s elevated status.
Rooms including the Master’s Room, Women’s Room, Guest Room, and Storage Room surround the Chanoma, creating a sophisticated and functional interior layout.
On the western side of the residence is a series of four connected formal rooms arranged from south to north: the Rest Room, Middle Room, Nakadan Room, and Upper Room.
These prestigious rooms were used when important visitors, including officials of the shogunate, came to the residence. The Upper Room features a tokonoma alcove, a staggered display shelf, and a traditional flat shoin window.
One of the most remarkable decorative features is the openwork transom carving between the Upper Room and the Nakadan Room.
The front and back sides feature different designs, demonstrating the sophisticated craftsmanship and refined aesthetic sensibilities of the period.
The second floor consists of a large, largely undivided wooden-floored space that was once used for silkworm cultivation.
A series of windows along the southern side allowed natural light and ventilation into the room. Furnishings such as hearths and special braziers used for sericulture helped create an environment suitable for raising silkworms and producing cocoons.
Today, this floor contains exhibition displays introducing aspects of daily life and traditional industries in Ueno Village, including clothing, food, housing, production, and livelihoods.
Visitors can learn about sericulture, traditional weaving, papermaking, charcoal production, and other activities that supported life in the mountain village.
Because the mountainous terrain offered little land suitable for rice cultivation, sericulture became an important source of income for local communities.
Mulberry fields were cultivated throughout the area, and the production of silkworm cocoons became an important local industry.
Women developed skills in extracting thread from damaged or leftover cocoons and carefully weaving it by hand on traditional jibata looms. These techniques were an important part of the region’s textile culture.
Traditional Japanese paper was also produced using kōzo, or paper mulberry, as the main raw material. Various types of paper were made for uses including shoji screens, long sheets of Japanese paper, and paper used in sericulture.
These industries were essential to sustaining everyday life in the mountain communities of Ueno and form an important part of the area’s traditional culture.
The Former Kurosawa Residence is more than simply a historic building. It is a valuable cultural attraction where visitors can experience the history and traditional lifestyle of Ueno Village.
Seeing the impressive scale of the building, its formal rooms, carefully crafted decorations, and traditional construction techniques up close provides a vivid impression of what life was like in a mountain community during the Edo period.
The nearest bus stop, Gakuen Iriguchi, is approximately a 2-minute walk from the residence. By car, it takes approximately 35 minutes from the Shimonita Interchange on the Joshinetsu Expressway.
Other attractions, including the clear waters of the Kanna River and Fuji Cave, are also located nearby, making the residence an excellent stop when exploring Ueno Village.
Heavy wooden pillars and beams, spacious formal rooms, and a traditional chestnut-board roof all tell the story of the people who lived and worked in the mountains of Ueno.
Preserved as a Nationally Designated Important Cultural Property, the Former Kurosawa Residence stands as an important symbol of Ueno Village’s cultural heritage.
Visitors can step into this quiet historic house and imagine the lives of the people who once lived here, while discovering how local communities developed and adapted to the demanding mountain environment.
A visit to the Former Kurosawa Residence offers a fascinating glimpse into the history, architecture, traditional industries, and everyday life of rural Japan.