The Northern Half of a Paired Wall of Storehouses
The Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse is a two-storey plastered storehouse at 28 Okada Kaito in Chita, Aichi Prefecture, built around 1914 (Taisho 3) and entered on the national register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 28 June 2017 (Heisei 29). It occupies the western edge of the compound, immediately north of the site's second storehouse.
The two were designed to be read together. Their forespaces run in one unbroken line, so the covered ground in front of one storehouse continues without interruption into the other. Seen from the lane, the pair present a single long face of boarding and plaster rather than two separate objects. That is a decision about the street, taken when the buildings were laid out.
The Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse measures 9.1 metres along its ridge and 5.5 metres across, with a floor area of 78 square metres. It is built Dozo-zukuri, with thick earthen walls, and roofed Kirizuma-zukuri in clay pantiles. The national record notes that both the ground floor and the upper floor are single undivided rooms.
That last detail is the one to hold on to. A storehouse divided into compartments wastes wall and complicates stacking. One clean volume per level lets bales go in tight against the walls and lets a worker see the whole of the stock at once. The building is an argument about how to store cloth efficiently.
Why It Was Registered
The Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country, the same criterion applied to four of the other five structures on this site. The main house alone was cited for the quality of its design.
That division is worth taking seriously rather than reading as a ranking. A landscape criterion recognises that some buildings matter because of where they stand and what they do to the view along a road. This storehouse and its neighbour form the western wall of the compound and set the far edge of the group. Their scale is what makes the site read as an industrial premises rather than a large house.
The company began in 1896 (Meiji 29), when associates of the Nakajima family founded Nakashichi Momen after the family's cotton wholesale business closed, installing twenty-four powered looms, the first mechanised weaving in Okada. Cloth production on that scale needed storage on this scale. The building records an industrial reality in the size of its walls.
Ownership is recorded in the national database as Takeuchi Hiroshi Shoten, a limited company, which also holds the workshop and dormitory range on the northern part of the grounds. Continuity of ownership across more than a century is part of why so much of the compound survives intact.
What to Look At
Approach from the west and take in both storehouses at once before separating them. The ridge lines run parallel, the tile courses align, and the continuous forespace ties the ground floors together. Only when you look for the join do the two buildings come apart.
Then find the windows on the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse. They face north. Its neighbour opens to the south. The two buildings turn their openings away from each other, which means neither one shades or overlooks the other, and each gets light from the direction that suits it. North light is even and weak, and for a room holding cloth that is exactly right.
Look at the boarding. It runs up the wall to a horizontal band, protecting the earthen construction from splash and weather, and above the band the plastered surface shows. Storehouse walls of this type are built up in layers over a timber frame and take months to dry, which is why they were expensive and why they were reserved for goods worth protecting.
The forespace deserves a moment. It is a threshold with a roof, deep enough to work under in rain, and it changes the elevation from a flat wall into something with a shadowed base. In the low sun of late afternoon that shadow is the strongest feature of the western end of the compound.
Visiting
The Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse is in private commercial ownership and the interior is not open. It can be seen from the public lane along the western side of the grounds, at any hour and at no cost, and there is no restriction on photography from the road. Please do not enter the site.
The owner runs Chita Momen Antenna Shop 478 within the compound, selling cloth and household goods woven from Chita cotton. The shop opens 10:00 to 16:00 and closes Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays; the telephone number is 0562-55-3239. A visit on an open day is the practical way to make contact with the material this storehouse was built to hold.
Take the Meitetsu Tokoname Line to Asakura Station and a Chita Bus service to Daimon-mae, then walk about one minute. Drivers should use the Nagaura interchange on the Nishi-Chita Sangyo Road, roughly five minutes away, and the visitors' car park provided for the Okada district.
Late afternoon gives the best light on the western elevation. If you want to stand inside a cotton storehouse of this period, two others in the district have been converted for hand-weaving sessions and are within a few minutes on foot. Shop hours were confirmed on 31 August 2026.
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Q&A
- Can visitors enter the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse?
- No. The building is privately owned and closed to the public. Its exterior is visible from the public lane on the western side of the compound at any time and free of charge.
- How big is the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse?
- It runs 9.1 metres along the ridge and 5.5 metres across, with a floor area of 78 square metres over two storeys. Both floors are single undivided rooms.
- Why do the windows of the north storehouse face north?
- North light is weak and even, which suits a building holding cloth. The arrangement also means this storehouse and its southern neighbour open away from each other, so neither blocks the other's light.
- Who owns the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse?
- The national database records the owner as Takeuchi Hiroshi Shoten, a limited company, which also owns the workshop and dormitory range on the same grounds and operates the cotton shop within the compound.
- When was the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse registered?
- On 28 June 2017, as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in the buildings category, registration number 23-0500, for contributing to the historic landscape.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 28 Okada Kaito, Chita, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings) |
| Year Designated | 2017 (Heisei 29) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, 2 storeys, 9.1 metres by 5.5 metres, floor area 78 square metres |
| Owner | Takeuchi Hiroshi Shoten Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Exterior viewing only; interior closed |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011730
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011726
- City of Chita: Cultural Properties of Chita
- https://www.city.chita.lg.jp/docs/2020071000028/
- Chita City Tourism Association: The Old Streets of Okada
- https://chita-kanko.com/spot/detail/98/
- Chita City Tourism Association: Chita Momen Antenna Shop 478
- https://chita-kanko.com/spot/detail/87/
Last verified: 2026.08.31