A merchant's storehouse of 1859
The Former Ishihara Family Residence Storehouse (旧石原家住宅土蔵, Kyū Ishihara-ke Jūtaku Dozō) is a two-storey earthen-walled storehouse of 1859 in Rokukocho, Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, registered by the national government as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 25 July 2011.
It measures 5.5 metres along the ridge and 3.6 metres across, covering 50 square metres. The gabled roof carries sangawara pantiles, and a lean-to extension runs along the west side. The entrance opens in the gable end facing north, an arrangement called tsumairi, sheltered by a deep projecting eave. The building stands at the south-eastern corner of the compound, facing the main house across the yard. The Agency for Cultural Affairs lists it under registration number 23-0339.
What the ridge tag records
A munafuda, the wooden tag traditionally fixed at the ridge when a building is raised, survives in the Former Ishihara Family Residence Storehouse. According to Okazaki City's heritage notes, it gives the same construction year and the same master carpenter as the main house. The store was not an afterthought added once the family home was finished. House and storehouse were commissioned together and completed by the same hands in the same season.
That makes sense for this household. The Ishihara traded in rice and lent money, and for a grain merchant a storehouse is not spare room but working plant. How much rice could be kept, and for how long without spoiling, set the ceiling on the business. The money-lending side needed its bonds and ledgers kept clear of fire. Encasing a timber frame in thick earth walls, the method known as Dozo-zukuri, answered both demands at once.
A rice-hulling shed was later added on the west side, with the eave carried around in an L shape to cover it. The route by which grain moved in and out of the store is still readable in the shape of the building.
Why it was registered
The registration criterion was contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs commentary singles out the way the store anchors the south-eastern corner of the grounds and settles the whole plot. The assessment rests less on rarity as a single structure than on the composition the three buildings make together.
All three were registered on the same day and carry consecutive numbers: 23-0338 for the main house, 23-0339 for the Former Ishihara Family Residence Storehouse, 23-0340 for the garden gate. In August 2013 Okazaki City added a municipal Important Landscape Structure designation.
One source conflict is worth recording. The Aichi prefectural cultural property database gives the registration date as 26 January 2011, while the Agency for Cultural Affairs and Okazaki City both give 25 July 2011. The national record is the primary source and is followed here.
What to look at
White above, boards below
The walls were first finished in white lime plaster over their whole surface, then boarded on three faces, north excepted. White shows across the upper wall; timber protects the lower band where rain splashes and mud collects. Two separate decisions, one for fire and one for weather, meet at a horizontal line you can read from across the yard. The western lean-to shares the same finish, so the addition does not read as a later patch.
The north door and its eave
The doorway sits in the gable, the triangular end of the building. Storehouse doors are heavy and slow to move, and they stand open for long stretches while goods are shifted. The deep eave above exists to keep rain out during those intervals. Door surrounds are the weak point of any storehouse, vulnerable to damp and to fire alike, and the projection of that eave is a fair measure of how careful an owner was.
Recent repair
Between 2016 and 2017 the outer walls were repaired and the roof retiled. Plaster can be renewed; the earth core beneath it cannot easily be rebuilt. Looking at the fresh white surface, it helps to remember that the material behind it has been in place since 1859.
Visiting
The compound is a private inheritance and stays closed for most of the year. Once each autumn, when registered properties across Aichi Prefecture open together for the Aichi Architecture Expo, the owner runs an event and visitors can enter the grounds. In 2025 this fell on 8 November, under the title Yorubun.
The date changes annually and the owner's website is usually updated around September, so check there before planning an autumn visit. Some years include guided commentary by the owner or by architectural historians, offered by reservation with limited places. Whether the interior of the store itself can be entered depends on how the day is arranged, so follow the guidance given on site.
The nearest station is Higashi-Okazaki on the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line, about 1.1 kilometres to the south, roughly a fifteen-minute walk. Okazaki Castle Park lies about one kilometre west. Photography is permitted or restricted at the owner's discretion on each open day. On all other days, view the compound from the public road and do not enter.
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Q&A
- Can you visit the Former Ishihara Family Residence Storehouse, and when is it open?
- It is normally closed. The grounds open roughly once a year, in autumn, when the owner holds an event tied to the Aichi Architecture Expo. In 2025 the date was 8 November. Check the owner's official website, as dates change each year.
- When was the Former Ishihara Family Residence Storehouse built?
- In 1859. A surviving ridge tag records, according to Okazaki City, the same construction year and the same carpenter as the main house. Repairs were carried out in 1978.
- How large is the Ishihara storehouse?
- It runs 5.5 metres by 3.6 metres and covers 50 square metres over two storeys, built in the earthen-wall dozo method. A lean-to on the west side once housed a rice-hulling floor.
- What heritage status does the Ishihara storehouse hold?
- It became a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 25 July 2011, under number 23-0339. The main house and the garden gate on the same plot were registered the same day.
- How do you reach the Ishihara storehouse from the nearest station?
- Walk about 1.1 kilometres north from Higashi-Okazaki Station on the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line, roughly fifteen minutes. The address is 70 Sugimoto, Rokukocho, Okazaki. Okazaki Castle Park is about one kilometre west.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Ishihara Family Residence Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 70 Sugimoto, Rokukocho, Okazaki City, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Heisei 23 (2011) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 5.5 metres along the ridge, 3.6 metres across, building area 50 square metres |
| Owner | Ishihara Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not normally open; admitted only on the special open day held each autumn |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Kyu Ishihara-ke Jutaku Dozo
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008702
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kyu Ishihara-ke Jutaku Dozo
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/228343
- Okazaki City: Registered Structures, Former Ishihara Family Residence Main House, Storehouse and Garden Gate
- https://www.city.okazaki.lg.jp/bunka/torikumi_bunka/1004568/1004592/1004595/1004613.html
- Aichi Prefecture Cultural Property Navigator: Kyu Ishihara-ke Jutaku Dozo
- https://jmapps.ne.jp/aichi_bunkazai/det.html?data_id=2151
- Official site of the owner: Registered Tangible Cultural Property, the Former Ishihara Residence
- https://www.orieotsuji.com/%E6%97%A7%E7%9F%B3%E5%8E%9F%E5%AE%B6%E4%BD%8F%E5%AE%85/
Last verified: 2026.08.30