The Old Office of the Former Yamashige Store
Of the nine surviving Yamashige buildings, the Old Office (Kyū-jimusho) is the one that first met customers at the door. It stands in the southwest of the grounds, facing the old road that once carried trade along the north bank of the Seto River. Built in 1914, when the firm was expanding, it is a compact two-storey timber building of about 68 square metres, with a tiled irimoya (hip-and-gable) roof. It was repaired in 1995.
The Yamashige Store was a ceramics wholesaler (tōjiki oroshidonya) in the Kitashintani district of Seto, built up by the Kato family from the 1880s. As the business grew, the family added offices, storehouses and work buildings across the hillside site. The owner's main residence is gone, but the Old Office and eight other structures survive, and in 2015 all nine were placed together on the national register of cultural properties. Seto City owns the property now.
Why It Was Registered
The plan reads as a small commercial office of its day. The western half of the ground floor is an earthen-floored office room (doma), the eastern half a raised, floored space, and the upper floor is a single open room. The interest lies in how it mixes old and new construction. A tiled irimoya roof gives it a traditional silhouette from the street, yet the roof is carried on a Western-style timber truss rather than the usual stacked beams. Inside, the office retains traces of a counter, and the floored room beside it shows the look of a modern chōba, the merchant's accounting station, working alongside older arrangements.
Registered Tangible Cultural Properties are listed because they shape the historic character of a place and are worth keeping in use, a lighter recognition than the designation reserved for Important Cultural Properties and National Treasures. The Old Office was registered on 17 November 2015 (registration number 23-0436), together with the other Yamashige buildings.
What to Look For
Approach from the old road and the Old Office gives the firm its public face: a modest two storeys, the tiled roof folding into the hip-and-gable form. The pleasure here is in the contradiction. The exterior speaks the traditional language of a Japanese townhouse, while the structure overhead belongs to the age of imported engineering.
Look for the counter line in the office room and imagine the daily traffic of orders and ledgers. When a later, larger office went up on the eastern side of the site in 1947, the entrance and the centre of business shifted with it, and this building stepped back into a quieter role. Reading the two offices together, old and new, is the clearest way to feel how the trade changed across the decades.
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Q&A
- When was the Old Office built?
- In 1914, during a period of business expansion. It was repaired in 1995.
- What is unusual about its construction?
- It looks traditional, with a tiled hip-and-gable roof, but that roof rests on a Western-style timber truss, an early mix of old form and new engineering.
- Why is it called the "Old" Office?
- A newer office was built on the eastern side of the grounds in 1947, after which this earlier one was known as the Old Office.
- Is it a National Treasure or Important Cultural Property?
- Neither. It is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, listed in 2015 for its part in the historic streetscape.
- Can I visit?
- The grounds are owned by Seto City and are being prepared for public use. Interior access is limited, so check current information with the city before going.
Basic Information
| Name | Old Office of the Former Yamashige Store (Kyū-Yamashige Shōten Kyū-jimusho) |
|---|---|
| Location | 23 and nearby, Nakagiri-chō, Seto, Aichi Prefecture |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building); registration no. 23-0436 |
| Registered | 17 November 2015 |
| Count | 1 building |
| Structure | Timber, two storeys, tiled irimoya roof carried on a timber truss |
| Building area | Approx. 68 m² |
| Built | 1914 (Taishō 3); repaired 1995 |
| Owner | Seto City |
| Access | Exterior viewable from the old road; interior access limited (confirm with Seto City) |
References
- National Database of Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Old Office of the Former Yamashige Store
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010793
- Cultural Heritage Online, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Old Office of the Former Yamashige Store
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/236408
- Former Yamashige Store, City of Seto
- https://www.city.seto.aichi.jp/docs/2017092600030/
Last verified: 2026.06.25