The Furui Family House (旧古井家住宅) is a 15th-century farmhouse in Sennenya Park, Yasutomi-chō, in the far north of Himeji City. It has been called a "thousand-year house" since the Edo period and is kept by local residents.
Why it's unique
In 2026 the national Council for Cultural Affairs recommended two farmhouses as Japan's first minka ever to be made National Treasures, and this is one of them. Both Hyogo Prefecture and Kobe Shimbun state the claim. It is a recommendation (答申), which normally becomes a formal designation later in the year.
The other house is the Hakogi House in Kobe's Kita Ward, older, from around the 14th century. Kobe Shimbun's editorial stresses that this one is the "thousand-year house that never had a disaster", kept going by the people who live around it, and you can walk inside it for nothing.
Before you go
The interior is only open Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, so a weekday visit gets you the outside only. The other new minka National Treasure, the Hakogi House in Kobe's Kita Ward, can be paired with it across a weekend.
This is about 26 km north of the castle, roughly 40 minutes by car (about 11 km from the Chūgoku Expressway Yamasaki IC). It is inside Himeji City since the 2006 merger, but it is not a stop on a castle day.
