What the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse is
The Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse (戸邉五右衞門家住宅米蔵, Tobe Goemon-ke Jūtaku Komegura) is a single-storey store built in 1949 in the compound of a riverside wharf agent in Nakanodai, Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 October 2007.
It stands south-east of the main house, along the street in front of the property. The building is timber, single-storey, under a tiled roof, with a building area of 33 square metres. Its plan is long and narrow, 5 by 2 Ken bays or roughly 9.1 by 3.6 metres, under a Yosemune-zukuri hipped roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. The entrance is on a short end, the arrangement called Tsumairi, and the walls are rendered in mortar.
The name says rice, but the building had more than one job. Inside it is split in two along its length: the entrance half held rice, miso and other stores, and the rear half is said to have been used for raising silkworms.
The date, 1949, is also the year improvement works on the Edo River forced the main house to be moved to its present site. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database and the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education give 1949 as the rice storehouse's construction date; Noda City says all four registered buildings were moved during the works.
Why the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse was registered
It was registered, as number 12-0088, for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as one of the elements that make up the historic layout of the compound.
Its value lies less in its own design than in its place in the whole. On the Tobe property the warehouse, with its upstairs room for boatmen, faces the Edo River embankment, while the rice storehouse faces the street, holding food and doubling as a household workroom. It is the one building the national description places on the street, and it forms the compound's edge on that side.
Rice, miso and silkworms: none of these belonged to the wharf business itself. They were the domestic side of the household, and the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse shows that a wharf agent's compound was equipped for running a home as well as a trade.
What to look at
Start with how the roof and the door relate. A hipped roof slopes down on all four sides, so it has no tall triangular gable wall, yet the entrance is still set in a short end. Entering at one end of a long, narrow plan and moving back through the store toward the silkworm room seems to be what the arrangement was built for.
Then notice how close it is. Standing on the street, the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse is the building on the property you can see from nearest. It is single-storey and low, and the eaves of the hipped roof come down close to eye level.
The mortar walls belong to the same family of finish as the Western wing of the main house. Set beside the white lime plaster of the earthen storehouse and the mix of mortar and boarding on the warehouse, it shows that each store on this property was given a different kind of wall.
Seeing the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse
The Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse is part of a private home and the interior is closed. Neither the store nor the silkworm room can be visited.
Because it stands along the street, the exterior is easy to see from the public road. It sits right beside the roadway, so take care not to block traffic when you stop to look. Photograph only from the road and do not enter the property.
Q&A
- Can you visit the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse?
- The interior is closed. It stands along the street, so the exterior can be seen from the public road.
- What was kept in the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse?
- The building is split in two. The entrance half held rice, miso and other stores, and the rear half is said to have been used for raising silkworms.
- When was the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs database dates it to 1949, the year the main house was moved for the Edo River improvement works.
- How big is the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse?
- A single-storey timber building of 5 by 2 bays with a building area of 33 square metres, under a hipped pantile roof with its entrance on the short end.
- When did the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse become a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- On 2 October 2007, as number 12-0088, for its contribution to the historic landscape.
Basic Information
| Name | Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 702-1 Kawagishi, Nakanodai, Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, and other lots |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 2 October 2007 (Heisei 19) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 33 square metres |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Interior closed (part of a private home). Exterior viewable from the public road |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006377
- Cultural Heritage Online, Tobe Goemon Family Residence Rice Storehouse
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/191100
- Tobe Goemon Family Residence Main House and others (Chiba Prefectural Board of Education)
- https://www.pref.chiba.lg.jp/kyouiku/bunkazai/bunkazai/q111-019.html
- Tobe Goemon Family Residence (Noda City)
- https://www.city.noda.chiba.jp/kurashi/kyoiku/bunka/1000585/1000589.html
Last verified: 2026.09.25
