Ito Family Residence Cowshed

A Thatched Byre With Twin Stalls

The Ito Family Residence Cowshed (伊藤家住宅牛小屋, Itō-ke Jūtaku Ushigoya) is an early Meiji-era livestock shed on the Ito family estate in Masuo 4-chome, Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 2, 2018. It is a single-storey timber building under a Kayabuki thatched Yosemune-zukuri hipped roof, with a building area of 28 square metres, standing northeast of the main house and facing west.

On the west, south and north sides the eaves are carried out in the Degeta-zukuri manner, and lean-to Geya extensions are added on the east and south. The walls are left in a rough clay coat, and part of the top of the wall is left open for ventilation.

Inside, the back is partitioned off and a stall is set to each side. The plan is as simple as a building can be, and it tells you plainly that cattle were kept on this farm.

Dated by an Old Map

No building record survives for the Ito Family Residence Cowshed. Kashiwa City dates it to the first years of Meiji based on a jinsokuzu, a quick-survey map made in the late 19th century. The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives a range of 1868 to 1882.

The jinsokuzu maps were drawn across the Kanto region in the early Meiji era and are used today to reconstruct villages and buildings of the time. Where there is no ridge tag or building ledger, an old map can supply the date, and that is what happened here.

The cowshed has become a reference point for the rest of the estate. The city also dates the retirement house to early Meiji because its structure resembles the cowshed's.

Why It Matters

It was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as an outbuilding that forms one corner of a traditional farmstead.

Livestock sheds are built more simply than houses, and once they fall out of use they are easy to replace or pull down. With its thatch, clay walls, ventilation gap and paired stalls all intact, the Ito Family Residence Cowshed shows in concrete form one part of how this farm worked.

The open strip at the top of the wall is a practical answer to the damp and smell of a cattle shed, and the deep eaves on three sides likely help keep rain off the unfinished clay.

Visiting

The Ito Family Residence Cowshed stands inside a private estate where the owners live. The interior is closed and the property cannot be entered, so the exterior can only be seen from places open to the public.

Directions and visiting etiquette for the estate as a whole are on the Ito Family Residence page.