Kamihaga Residence

Locally knownKnown to people who live here. Not in the international guidebooks.

Researched and written by Hinato

KamihagaJapan waxUchikoImportant Cultural Propertymokuro

Photo: Suikotei / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) · original

What Kamihaga Residence looked like originally and what it looks like now are two different stories — both worth knowing before you arrive.

Uchiko's money came from mokuro — Japan wax, pressed from the berries of the haze tree and used for candles, hair oil, polish and later for export. The Haga family were the largest producers and by the Meiji period Uchiko wax was being shipped to Europe and won prizes at international expositions. Electric light ended the trade.

The Kamihaga house is the branch family's compound of 1894, kept complete: the main house, the wax-pressing shed with its presses and cauldrons, the drying yard, the storehouses. It is an Important Cultural Property and it is the only place in Japan where the whole process — berry to bleached wax — can be followed through the buildings it happened in. The yellow-tinged plaster of the Uchiko streets outside was made with local clay, and the money for it came from here.

What to know before you go

When to go

Year-round

Opening hours

9:00 AM – 4:30 PM

Closed: Closed 29 December – 2 January

Time to allow

60–90 minutes

Fee

¥500 adults | ¥250 children | Group rates for 20 or more

Reaching the site

Access notes

2696 Uchiko, Uchiko, Kita District, at the top of the Yokaichi-Gokoku preservation district. About a short walk from JR Uchiko Station. Closed 29 December – 2 January. Admission ¥500 for adults and ¥250 for children, with group rates of ¥380 and ¥200 for 20 or more. Phone.

Beyond the guidebook

**Follow the process through the buildings.** Pressing shed, cauldrons, drying yard, storehouse — the sequence is intact and walking it in order is what makes the site rather than the rooms. **Look at the plaster colour.** The yellow-tinged lime plaster on Uchiko's street fronts uses local clay and is the town's visual signature. This house is where the money for it came from. **Electric light killed the industry.** Japan wax was for candles. Understanding that the whole town's prosperity ended with electrification explains why the street is preserved rather than redeveloped. **It is at the far end of the street.** Twenty-five minutes on foot from the station, at the top of the preservation district. Walk up through the town rather than driving to it. **Combine with Uchikoza.** The 1916 theatre is a few minutes back down the hill and was built by the same class of people.

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