Samurai Residences

Introduction

This is a new project to highlight the samurai homes (bukeyashiki 武家屋敷) you sometimes find near castles. I will also include ashigaru dwellings, even though ashigaru are technically not samurai. I've only developed an interest in these in the last couple of years so I have missed many years of castle travels where I could have gathered even more information. Unfortunately, I cannot find even one good book in Japanese that discusses samurai homes in detail so I'm largely putting this together through what I've come to understand while visiting different sites over the years. I'm starting with areas that I know well and residences where the house still exists. Many places noted as "samurai homes" on maps only have a single gate or maybe a storehouse remaining, but the main house is gone. I've documented many of these as well, but for the sake of bringing appropriate attention to these overlooked historical artifacts, I will first focus on residences where the house still exists.

Background

Dwellings in the castle towns were highly regulated by the local lord. All samurai kept their permanent home near the castle. These samurai quarters are called Bukeyashiki or Samuraiyashiki. In the samurai quarters, the proximity to the castle and the size of the home were respective to the samurai's rank and standing with his lord. Samurai homes were typically modest dwellings but with the distinction that only samurai were allowed to have walls and gates. Samurai residences were technically the property of the local lord so he could change the residence (and rank) of a samurai at will.

Structure

The map in the photo below is represents a very typical samurai residence.