Jin'ya and The Imanishi Family Residence

During the Edo period of Japanese history, a jin'ya (陣屋^?) was the administrative headquarters of a small domain or parcel of land held by the Tokugawa shogunate, as well as the residence of the head of the administration, and the associated grain storehouse. While larger domains had castles, certain smaller domains did not, and the jin'ya, much smaller than a castle, housed the administration.

The Imanishi Family Residence (今西家住宅 Imanishi-ke jūtaku^?) is one of a Group of Traditional Buildings in Imai-cho, Kashihara, Nara Prefecture Japan. It dates to 1650 and has been designated an Important Cultural Property.^[1]

As well as being as the minka or machiya of the Imanishi family, it served as the jinya, or centre and court, of Imai, then an autonomous town.

Its roof is made in the form of "yatsumune-zukuri" (八棟造), which means "complicated roof style with multiple ridges and bargeboards".^[2]

Machiya (町屋/町家^?) are traditional wooden townhouses found throughout Japan and typified in the historical capital of Kyoto. Machiya (townhouses) and nōka (farm dwellings) constitute the two categories of Japanese vernacular architecture known as minka (folk dwellings).