The Oldest Building on the Plot
The Kuzuri Woolen Industry Storehouse is a two-storey dozo, a thick-walled Japanese storehouse, in Tamanoi, Kisogawa-cho, Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, built in the closing decades of the Edo period between about 1830 and 1868 and entered on the national list of Registered Tangible Cultural Property (buildings) on 17 August 2020. It has a gabled roof of clay pantiles and a floor area of 55 square metres, and stands between the mill and the detached residence towards the middle of the site.
Lean-to roofs run along the north and east faces, sheltering the white plastered body. Both floors are single undivided rooms lined internally with vertical boards. The core still holds household goods, while the space under the lean-to serves the mill as a store.
The company is said to date from 1912, so the Kuzuri Woolen Industry Storehouse is older than the firm by more than half a century. Every other building here belongs to the Showa era; this one comes from before industry arrived.
A Storehouse That Was Moved
The building is said to have stood originally on the neighbouring family property to the east and to have been moved to its present position. No firm record of when this happened could be traced, so the account is best treated as local tradition. Dozo construction is designed to be taken apart and rebuilt, and relocation of this kind was not unusual.
The registration criterion was contribution to the historic landscape, applied to nine buildings listed together on 17 August 2020. This storehouse carries registration number 23-0555.
Eight of the nine are Showa-period structures; only this one reaches back to the Edo period. A single building of a different age within a modern industrial group gives the compound a depth it would not otherwise have, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs cites exactly that in its assessment.
Thick Walls, Light Eaves
A dozo is built by packing thick earth around a timber frame and finishing the surface in white lime plaster. The method was developed to protect contents from fire and theft, which is why the walls are heavy and the openings few. That is also why the white mass of the Kuzuri Woolen Industry Storehouse stands out among the boarded buildings around it.
The relationship between core and lean-to is the thing to look for. A light shed roof has been hung onto a fortress of earth, so the building divides its labour between guarding a family's possessions and sheltering the factory's goods.
The roof is gabled and tiled. Set beside the sawtooth of the mill, the hipped roofs of the main house and office and the hip-and-gable of the detached residence, it completes a set of four distinct roof forms on a single plot, a sequence you can read simply by walking from the gate to the weaving shed.
Visiting
The Kuzuri Woolen Industry Storehouse stands inside a working factory yard and is not open on a walk-in basis. The official Aichi Prefecture tourism site notes that the company sometimes accepts visitors by prior arrangement. Telephone 0586-87-3323 at least two weeks ahead. Two or three visitors up to about ten are accepted, larger parties need discussion, and Saturdays and Sundays are non-working days. Checked on 31 August 2026.
No published photography policy could be found. The building holds a family's possessions, so any request to photograph the interior should be raised carefully in advance.
Tamanoi Station on the Meitetsu Bisai Line is about a two-minute walk. By car, allow about 15 minutes from the Ichinomiya-nishi exit of the Tokai-Hokuriku Expressway or about 25 minutes from the Ichinomiya interchange of the Meishin Expressway. Standing at the centre of the plot, the white walls are not visible from the public road.
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Q&A
- Can I visit the Kuzuri Woolen Industry Storehouse?
- Not on a walk-in basis, since it stands inside a working factory yard. Telephone 0586-87-3323 at least two weeks ahead and the company may agree to a visit. Weekends are non-working days.
- How old is the Kuzuri Woolen Industry Storehouse?
- It dates from the closing decades of the Edo period, between about 1830 and 1868, making it the oldest of the nine registered buildings on the site. The other eight are of the Showa era.
- Was the Kuzuri Woolen Industry Storehouse moved to its present site?
- Local tradition holds that it once stood on the neighbouring family property to the east and was relocated here. No firm documentary record of the move has been found.
- How is the building used today?
- The thick-walled core still stores household goods, while the space beneath the lean-to roofs on the north and east sides is used by the mill as a store.
- When was it registered as a cultural property?
- On 17 August 2020, as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), registration number 23-0555.
Basic Information
| Name | Kuzuri Woolen Industry Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 114 Miyamae, Tamanoi, Kisogawa-cho, Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, and others |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2020 |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | 2-storey earthen-walled structure, tiled roof, floor area 55 square metres |
| Owner | Not disclosed (privately owned) |
| Public Access | Normally closed; visits by prior arrangement |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Kuzuri Woolen Industry Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013408
- Ichinomiya City: Cultural Properties in Ichinomiya
- https://www.city.ichinomiya.aichi.jp/katsuryokusouzou/hakubutsukan/1044092/1024202/1036232.html
- Aichi Now, official Aichi Prefecture tourism site: Kuzuri Woolen Industry Co., Ltd.
- https://aichinow.pref.aichi.jp/spots/detail/3024/
- Ichinomiya Tourism Association: Sawtooth Roofs of the Bishu Weaving District, vol. 1
- https://www.138ss.com/feature/detail/11/
Last verified: 2026.08.31