What the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse is
The Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse (戸邉五右衞門家住宅倉庫, Tobe Goemon-ke Jūtaku Sōko) is a riverside wharf agent's warehouse built in 1949 beside the Edo River embankment in Nakanodai, Noda City, Chiba Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 October 2007.
It stands south-west of the main house with its long face turned to the embankment. The building is timber, two storeys high, under a tiled roof, with a building area of 103 square metres. At 8 by 3 Ken bays, roughly 14.5 by 5.5 metres, it is large for an outbuilding. The roof is a Yosemune-zukuri hip laid in Sangawara-buki pantiles, and along one long side it throws out an open-sided Geya, a lean-to roof with no walls beneath it.
The year 1949 is also when 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 warehouse's construction date, while Noda City says all four registered buildings were moved during the works. The sources do not agree on how building and move relate.
Why the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse was registered
It was registered, as number 12-0087, for its contribution to the historic landscape. The long hipped roof lying parallel to the embankment helps form the view along this stretch of the Edo River, and that appears to be the core of the case.
The plan says as much about the wharf trade as the exterior does. Inside, the building is split lengthwise: a living room on the river side, and on the house side a tall open storage space rising through both floors. Noda City adds that the upper floor holds a boatmen's room. Cargo space and quarters for the men who handled the boats were built into one structure, the people on the river side and the goods on the house side.
This is a post-war building, yet it still sets aside a room for boatmen facing the water. In 1949 the Tobe household was evidently still planning its buildings around traffic on the river.
What to look at
Look first at the open lean-to along the long side of the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse. With a roof but no walls, it would have given a sheltered strip for moving goods in and out in the rain.
The walls are mostly rendered in mortar, with some sections in Shitami-itabari, horizontal boards lapped one over the next. Follow where the smooth render gives way to boarding: the change of finish is a clue to how each face of the building was used.
The hipped roof runs the full 8 bays and follows the line of the embankment. It is the same hipped, pantiled form as the core of the Meiji main house, so the post-war warehouse and the older house are matched in roof shape across half a century.
Seeing the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse
The Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse belongs to a private home and the interior is closed. The boatmen's room and the tall storage space cannot be visited.
Because the warehouse faces the Edo River embankment, its long river side is seen from the embankment. That angle shows the lean-to and the length of the roof most clearly. Photograph only from public ground and do not enter the property.
Q&A
- Can you go inside the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse?
- No. It is part of a private home and closed to visitors. The exterior can be seen from the embankment side and the public road.
- When was the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs database dates it to 1949, the year the main house was moved for the Edo River improvement works.
- What is the boatmen's room in the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse?
- A room for boatmen on the upper floor. Inside, the building is divided into a living room on the river side and open storage on the house side, and Noda City notes the boatmen's room upstairs.
- How big is the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse?
- Two storeys, 8 by 3 bays, with a building area of 103 square metres.
- When and why was the Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse registered?
- On 2 October 2007, as number 12-0087, for its contribution to the historic landscape.
Basic Information
| Name | Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 703-1 Kawagishi, Nakanodai, Noda City, Chiba Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 2 October 2007 (Heisei 19) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 103 square metres |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Interior closed (part of a private home). Exterior viewable from the embankment side and public road |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006376
- Cultural Heritage Online, Tobe Goemon Family Residence Warehouse
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/197369
- 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
