Four people were found dead after a fire gutted a farmer's house Monday in Aomori Prefecture, police and firefighters said.
The fire broke out at the wooden two-story home of Mitsuhiro Yashiro, 77, in Hirosaki at around midnight. The blaze was put out six hours later.
Yashiro, who lived with five others, was uninjured, but his daughter, 46, and three grandchildren aged 16 to 18 remain unaccounted for.
Yashiro's wife, 69, was taken to the hospital but is not in a life-threatening condition.
"Yashiro's wife came out to alert others to the fire, but it was unmanageable by then," a 71-year-old neighbor said.
The house was located in an area dotted with residences and rice paddies some 6 km away from JR Tsurudomari Station.