About This Place
Noto-beshimo, in Nakanoto Town, is a historic town located in the central part of the Noto Peninsula.
It once developed as a local hub along an old route, where people and goods passed through. Today, many administrative and commercial functions have moved to the outskirts, and the town has taken on a quieter character.
At the same time, old streets, shrines, and some historic buildings still remain, allowing visitors to read the layers of the area’s formation.
The 2024 Noto Peninsula Earthquake caused severe damage, especially in the Oku-Noto area. Within that wider context, this area still retains a relatively coherent group of historic streets and buildings, offering a sense of continuity in Noto’s way of life and architectural culture.
This property is located in the heart of the old town.
About the Buildings
The site contains two buildings:
the main house, built in 1910,
and the warehouse/workshop, built in 1962.
The main house was used as a residence, while the warehouse/workshop served as a workplace supporting the local water infrastructure.
Together, the residence and workplace preserve the relationship between daily life and livelihood in this community.
Architecture That Has Continued to Change
The main house is a single-story Azumadachi-style building, a type found in the Noto region. Although it has been altered over time to suit daily life, its key spatial and architectural elements remain: the entrance, formal rooms, hearth-centered layout, posts and beams, and fittings.
The property also preserves the traditional Noto timber-framing technique known as sashimono-zukuri, in which massive posts and beams are joined by precisely crafted wooden joints rather than nails, creating a remarkably strong structural frame. This distinctive construction method developed in the Noto and wider Hokuriku region and remains one of the defining features of its vernacular architecture.
It is said that timber was once cut from the family’s own mountain and used for the construction and maintenance of the house.
The warehouse/workshop also remains as a building with a different character from the residence. With its large timber interior, it has the potential to accommodate a range of uses, including storage, making, research, or small-scale business activities.
Why It Became aSubject of Research
In the 1980s, a joint survey was conducted by several universities, centered around architectural scholar Yoshiya Uchida. The research examined the region from multiple angles, including structural systems, roof construction, building production, and the process of extensions and alterations.
This property was one of the houses included in that survey. It was recorded not only as an individual traditional house, but also as a subject through which to understand the architecture and way of life of the Noto region.
The records also include interviews with the master carpenter involved in the building, as well as documentation of how the house changed over time. One of the distinctive features of this research is that it records not only the building itself, but also the background behind it.
Shrines and Streets
Notobe-shimo is a settlement shaped by the interrelationship of streets, shrines, farmland, and houses. Near the property are Noto-hime Shrine, Amanohikage-hime Shrine, the Ninomiya of Noto Province, and Notobe Shrine. Through them, the area’s connections to local history and belief can still be traced today. The cultural landscape surrounding these shrines is also connected with the region's long tradition of fermentation, including “doburoku”, an unfiltered rice wine that remains part of the area's cultural heritage.
Buildings, streets, shrines, and people’s activities overlap here. This layered regional structure is one of the defining characteristics of the place.
Future
The floors, water-related facilities, and other parts of the building will need to be renovated according to its next use. However, the structural frame remains in good condition. We hope the property will be inherited through new forms of use, while its equipment and facilities are updated.
This place also retains the records of regional research and the context of local culture. There is room here to develop new activities and businesses while drawing on that background.
The property may evolve into a place for research, a business related to fermentation culture or food, a small-scale accommodation facility, or a use that no one has yet imagined.
The stage is already here.
What chapter will be added next?
That will be entrusted to those who bring a new interpretation to this place.
Document Archive
The floors, water-related facilities, and other parts of the building will need to be renovated according to its next use. However, the structural frame remains in good condition. We hope the property will be inherited through new forms of use, while its equipment and facilities are updated.
This place also retains the records of regional research and the context of local culture. There is room here to develop new activities and businesses while drawing on that background.
The property may evolve into a place for research, a business related to fermentation culture or food, a small-scale accommodation facility, or a use that no one has yet imagined.
The stage is already here.
What chapter will be added next?
That will be entrusted to those who bring a new interpretation to this place.
What Is Recorded
This property is one of the research houses included in the architectural survey materials on the Noto region, compiled from the 1980s to the 1990s. The archive includes, for example, materials on the following topics:
• Formation of settlements and townscapes
• Structural systems and timber framing of vernacular houses
• The technique known as “sashimono-zukuri”, a traditional timber joinery technique using precisely fitted wooden joints.
• Interviews with master carpenters
• Local building production, including timber procurement and construction processes
• Production and installation of Noto roof tiles
• Histories of extensions, alterations, and changes in residential life • Measured drawings, house data, and survey photographs
These materials are not limited to a single building. They are primary records that document the building techniques and everyday life of the Noto region from multiple angles.
This Research in a Global Context
The documentation of regional architecture through field surveys is not unique to Japan. Similar research has been conducted in many parts of the world, including Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, recording architectural cultures rooted in their respective regions. The Noto survey materials can be understood as part of this broader field of regional architectural research. Examples include:
◊ United Kingdom — Surveys of vernacular architecture in the Lake District and Cumbria
◊ Germany — Surveys of Fachwerk timber-frame settlements and historic buildings
◊ Norway — Measured surveys of wooden farmhouses and traditional architecture
◊ Iran — Settlement surveys of desert cities and adobe architecture
◊ Indonesia — Architectural surveys of traditional houses and settlements, including Toraja houses
◊ Korea — Conservation and measured studies of hanok villages
◊ Mexico — Regional surveys of Indigenous settlements and vernacular architecture Within this global context of documenting and passing on regional architecture, the Noto architectural surveys can be positioned as a case that comprehensively records settlements, buildings, techniques, and building production.
Selected Images from the Archive
As a Documented Building
The materials introduced on this website are part of the research and survey records related to this building. The purchaser of this property will receive the full set of these survey and research materials as digital data. One of the distinctive features of this property is that not only the building itself, but also the records behind it, will be passed on together.