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Kaida Yamashita House

Travel Information

Yamashita House (開田高原山下家住宅) is the traditional house located in Kiso, Nagano. It was constructed in the end of Edo period. Yamashita Family was the head of Kiso Horse Stables in Kiso Kaida Highland. Therefor, this house is very unique because there is a stable inside.

Tourist Info.
There is parking and restroom.
Admission: 400 yen for adult, 200 yen for kids. There is a group discount.
Time: 9:00 to 17:00
Close: Monday.

Access
0. at Kiso-Fukushima Station.
1. use bus to Yamakaryokan.


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Detailed Travel Guide

Kaida Yamashita House

Kaida Highland Yamashita House is a traditional houses constructed in 1866. Yamashita Family the head of Kiso Horse Breeding and made a great fortune. It was built in the period of Meiji Restoration, the civil war and end of Samrurai era. However, this village was not involved that war. That's why they could built this large house. It was very expensive and many people helped this constructions. Not only carpenters, but also all other villagers joined.

Irori, Japanese fireplace, takes Jizaikagi that is very important equipment for pot. It is all angle and adjustable hook for pot. The stopper was made by the craft-master of Hida.

There is a 100 years old clock made in USA.

Gold Byobu has many drawing of horses. These drawing and text explains how to train a horse. These drawing are made in Muromachi Period to Meiji Period. It was Otsubo Ryu Horse Style. It was the best. Some of them were made in Keicho 13 (1608). Another important thing is these hard-paper have gold borders and covered with gold. This cloud is made from gold. This gold protect the paper for over 1,000 years.

This house has a stable right next to living space. It is located south area of the house. People live with their horses. There is a large pot for horses. The temperature of this village in winter goes under -20 degree c. So, they need to boil water from ice. Also, they need to boil grass for feeding horses as well. When they sale their horse to the market, they cook a great dinner for their horse. Because horses and people live in the same space, they feel strong sympathy. Even horses cried, and it is very important to communicate horses. It was tradition kept over hundreds of years.