What other travelers are saying about Nakamura House
This well-known Okinawan traditional house is called "Nakamura House," designated as one of Japan's National Important Cultural Properties. There is a pig sty, and an altar room.
A must stop over if visiting Okinawa. Step back in time and see how Okinawans lived their everyday lives. You can enter the home and see and feel history! I totally recommend it here.
We came here because my sister is an architect and she wanted to see the way this building was built.
Cool thing is you can kind of wander inside and take pictures inside the building. There are some sections that were locked off but for the most part you could take photos as if you were in the scenery. They also have costumes that you can rent so that you can be garbed up and look like you belong.
There were a lot of beautiful flowers too in the garden.
There is a well, which I would recommend for recreating a scene from the ring. At least that's what we did.
I would recommend trying out the craft Cola. I can't drink caffeine so it was nice being able to drink a cola that didn't have it. And it did kind of taste like a cola. Very interesting with the list of ingredients.
When we first got there we have problems getting to the parking lot. We were directed to go down a back alley which did not lead to the parking lot. If we had just kept going we would have actually gotten to it but we turned early.
When you do find the parking lot, it's actually a decent size so you shouldn't have problems parking.
This is pretty much a self-guided tour. There was at least no mention of them having any real tours. So we walked around on our own and took pictures.
The Nakamura House was designated as a major cultural treasure by Japanese national government, even though it is a residence/ house of the rich farmer or farming elite family, the Nakamura Family.
The House could be traced back to 1720 or around, and it is well preserved and maintained, without much damage, even survived from Okinawa Battle in 1945. Wooden structure, mixed with stone slabs, bamboo frames inside and tall stone walls outside, are shield by tall Fukugi trees [aka, Happiness Trees] from strong winds and sands, even hurricanes/ typhoons.
On roof top, visitors can see a talisman, Shi-sa, which is believed to be a guardian to scare away or drive away unwanted ghosts or spirits.
Even with its long history, Nakamura House is well maintained and has been in continuous restoration for its originality.
Staffs can command fluent English for site-visit questions, although visitors can use QR Code to scan and access for multilanguage onsite guides at major local points.
Entrance admission is $ 500 Yen for adult and $200 or $ 300 Yen for teenagers or children, depending on age. There is a gift shop near ticket office,
This little GEM of a place it’s amazing! I’m so glad we made it here. Super cute and well preserved. With a garden around the grounds and totally worth to check out all the little spots on that map out front (Photo spots all over) Easy to explore and plenty of parking. We were one of the only ones there. Yen only.
Worth the trip 100%