Ozeki Family Storehouse

What the Ozeki Family Storehouse Is

The Ozeki Family Storehouse (尾関家住宅土蔵, Ozeki-ke Jutaku Dozo) is a late Edo period earthen-walled storehouse in Shirayamadaira, Inuyama City, Aichi Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 23 August 1999. It held the goods and household property of the Ozeki family, official tile makers to Inuyama Castle and later the potters of Inuyama ware.

It stands north-west of the main house and faces east. The ridge runs north to south over a Kirizuma-zukuri roof of sangawara pantiles, two storeys built in the dozo-zukuri method of thick plastered earth walls. The plan measures 4 ken along the ridge and 2 ken across, about 7.3 metres by 3.6 metres, with a building area of 28 square metres. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database gives the construction date as Tenpo 13 (1842).

That year turned the family's fortunes. A great fire started at their premises at Yozaka in the castle town, and the Ozeki were required to relocate to Shirayamadaira. The Ozeki Family Storehouse went up alongside the main house when the compound was rebuilt on the new site.

Why It Carries Registered Status

The Ozeki Family Storehouse holds registration number 23-0035, running consecutively with 23-0034 for the main house, from the nineteenth round of listings. The public notice was issued on 7 September 1999, under the criterion of contribution to the historic landscape of the country. The Registered Tangible Cultural Property system is built around keeping such buildings in service rather than freezing them.

Two things carry the value: the straightforward logic of the storehouse itself, and the way it ties into the main house. On the east front a pent roof projects 1 ken, about 1.8 metres, sheltering a working strip known as the kuramae. Goods rested there in transit and the heavy doors could be swung open out of the rain. That strip governs how usable a storehouse is day to day.

The other end connects more directly still. The southern tip of the Ozeki Family Storehouse joins the veranda on the north side of the main house altar room. Two separate buildings, linked by a single passage, so the family could move between them without changing footwear in wet weather. The daily routes of the household survive in the way the structures meet.

The south wall was later reclad in overlapping horizontal boards, though the closed character of the building has not changed. A storehouse exists to keep fire and damp away from what it holds, and few openings means few weak points. Built by a family that had just lost its home to fire, that reticence reads differently.

What to Look For

The Sheltered Front

Stand on the east side and the projecting pent roof is the first thing you see, reaching about 1.8 metres out from the wall. The strip beneath it is the kuramae. It was sized to let someone work with the doors standing open, and the dimension tells you this was a building in constant use rather than a sealed vault. Anyone visiting the Ozeki Family Storehouse should start from this half-outdoor space.

A Long Box Set North to South

Four ken by two ken gives a narrow rectangle laid along the north-south axis. The thick earthen walls of dozo-zukuri rise through both floors, so upper and lower levels alike could take stored goods. The exterior gives little away, but following the proportions shows how tightly the thing is organised.

Boards Against Plaster

Only the south face carries the board cladding. Overlapping boards protect the wall most exposed to driving rain, and a damaged board can be swapped out one at a time. Comparing the plastered faces with the boarded one shows how the Ozeki Family Storehouse has been repaired and kept in use rather than left alone.

On the garden side there is a moon-viewing terrace, and the storehouse can be entered from there as well as from the veranda of the main house. Two approaches, from opposite directions.

Visiting

The Ozeki Family Storehouse is privately owned and has no regular opening hours. The board-floored ground floor is let as a gallery, however, so it can be entered while an exhibition is running. Eight movable spotlights are fitted, and the interior has been prepared as a display space.

Exhibition dates are announced on the website and social media accounts of the owners, the Inuyama ware kiln Ozeki Sakujuro Tobo. Gallery hire runs at 3,000 yen a day on weekdays, 5,000 yen a day at weekends and on public holidays, and 10,000 yen for a five-day run, so the space is open to anyone wanting to exhibit. Access hours are normally 10:00 to 17:00.

The pottery shop on the grounds opens 10:00 to 17:00, with irregular closing days and a New Year break. Part of the main house runs as the cafe Kissa Wan from Thursday to Sunday, 11:00 to 17:00, which makes it easy to combine a look at an exhibition with a stop for tea. The owners publish no photography policy, so during an exhibition check with both the exhibitor and the household before taking pictures.

The site is a 15-minute walk from Meitetsu Inuyama Station and a 12-minute walk from Meitetsu Inuyamayuen Station, uphill beside Inuyama Naritasan. Parking is available on the grounds, though the narrow private lane at the entrance is easy to miss. The National Treasure keep of Inuyama Castle and the old merchant street of Hommachi lie a short distance to the west.

Charges and hours were checked against the official website on 31 August 2026. Confirm current details before travelling.