Nakamura House

Nakamura House is a traditional Okinawan farmhouse in Kitanakagusuku village, central Okinawa Main Island, built around the mid-18th century. It is a national Important Cultural Property. The house combines the residence of a well-off family with the farm buildings around it, so you see how a whole rural household was laid out. Admission is 500 yen for adults.

History of Nakamura House

The family traces its roots on this site back about 500 years. Its ancestor Gauji is said to have come here as a teacher to Gosamaru, the lord of Nakagusuku Castle.

Gosamaru was later destroyed by Amawari, the lord of Katsuren Castle in Uruma, and the family scattered. Around 1720 one of its members was appointed jito (a local post similar to a village headman), and the family's fortunes recovered.

The house standing today is believed to date from the mid-18th century. The Ryukyu Government designated it an Important Cultural Property in 1956, and the Government of Japan did the same in 1972 when Okinawa returned to Japan.

What to see at Nakamura House

The property is walled with Ryukyu limestone on three sides, and fukugi trees inside the walls act as a windbreak. The main structures are:

• Hinpun: a screen wall inside the gate that blocks the view of the house from the street

• Ufuya: the main house, with pillars said to come from a samurai-class home in Shuri, made of chagi and iku hardwood

• Ashagi: detached living quarters

• Tungwa: the kitchen

• Takakura: a raised storehouse with a sloped roof space that kept rats away from stored grain

• Menuya and huru: the barn and a pig pen made of three linked stone enclosures with arched openings

The roof is clay tile topped with a shisa, the lion-dog guardian of Okinawan homes. Until the middle of the Meiji period the roof was thatched with bamboo and reeds.

Nakamura House tickets

• Adults: 500 yen

• Junior high and high school students: 300 yen

• Elementary school students: 200 yen

• Groups of 20 or more: 10% off

The house is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The Nakamura House English page lists current fees and opening days.

How to get to Nakamura House

• By car from Naha: about 35 minutes (17 km) on Route 58, or about 15 minutes from Naha IC on the Okinawa Expressway

• By car from Nago: about 1 hour on Route 58, or about 40 minutes from Kyoda IC

The house is a short distance from Nakagusuku Castle Ruins, a World Heritage gusuku, and the two make an easy half day together. Our guide to Okinawa's castle ruins covers the other gusuku sites in the area.