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Nakamura House

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

Researched and written by Hinato

Nakamura HouseRyukyuan architecturehinpunImportant Cultural PropertyKitanakagusuku

Photo: x768 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) · original

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

Almost every traditional building in Okinawa was destroyed in 1945. The Nakamura house, a wealthy farming family's compound in Kitanakagusuku, survived, and it is the most complete example of pre-war Okinawan domestic architecture in existence — a nationally designated Important Cultural Property and effectively the reference for what these houses were.

Everything is an answer to typhoons and heat. The compound is walled in stone with a fukugi windbreak outside it, there is a hinpun screen wall inside the gate to break the wind and, by tradition, evil spirits, the red tiles are set in lime mortar so they cannot lift, and the roof pitch is low. There are pigsties built of stone at the back, a rice store raised on posts, and a shisa on the roof. It takes forty minutes and it explains the whole vernacular.

What to know before you go

When to go

Year-round

Opening hours

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM | Last entry 4:40 PM

Closed: Closed Wednesdays and Thursdays

Time to allow

40–60 minutes

Fee

¥500 adults | ¥300 junior and senior high school students | ¥200 elementary school children | Some listings differ — confirm on arrival

Reaching the site

Getting there in detail

106 Ogusuku, Kitanakagusuku, Nakagami District. Car recommended; close to Nakagusuku Castle. Open Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday — closed Wednesdays and Thursdays. Admission ¥500 adults, ¥300 junior and senior high school students, ¥200 elementary school children, with group rates; some listings quote different figures, so confirm on arrival.

Beyond the guidebook

**Closed Wednesdays and Thursdays.** Two consecutive rest days, which is unusual and catches people out badly. **Look at the hinpun.** The free-standing screen wall just inside the entrance is the single most characteristic feature of an Okinawan house — it breaks the typhoon wind and, in belief, blocks evil spirits, which travel in straight lines. **Go round the back.** The stone pigsties, the raised rice store and the well are behind the main house and are what make this a farm rather than a display of a room. **It survived 1945, which is why it matters.** Almost nothing else of this kind did. Everything you have seen elsewhere on the island in this style is a reconstruction. **Combine with Nakagusuku Castle.** The World Heritage gusuku is a few minutes away, and the pair covers both ends of Okinawan building.

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