Aizanso Stone Storehouse

About the Aizanso Stone Storehouse

The Aizanso Stone Storehouse (愛山荘石蔵, Aizansō Ishigura) is a two-storey stone storehouse built in 1936 at the southern end of Aizanso in Wakatake-cho, Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2017.

It measures 9.4 metres by 5.7 metres, is entered on its long side (Hirairi), and has a tiled roof and a building area of 63 square metres. A covered corridor links it to the kura zashiki to the north, making it the last stop on the route that begins at the main house.

Of the nine registered structures at Aizanso, it is the second newest and the only one built of stone.

Why it was registered

The Aizanso Stone Storehouse was registered as a model of good design.

Its walls are laid in Shakudani stone, a blue-green volcanic tuff quarried for centuries around Mount Asuwa in Fukui City. The stone is soft enough to cut easily, and across Echizen it went into castle walls, roof tiles and grave markers. Here it is stacked into a storehouse, with every door and window closed by an iron shutter.

Inside, the walls are rendered in mortar, and the roof frame has a steel truss at its centre carrying the ridge beam. Local stone and tile outside, steel and mortar within: the national description calls it a stone storehouse of distinctive appearance.

What to look for

The stone

Stand in front of the Aizanso Stone Storehouse and look at the colour. Shakudani stone reads as a greyish green when dry and turns a deeper blue-green after rain. Notice the size of the blocks and how the joints run between them.

The iron shutters

The iron doors and window shutters, like the stone itself, were there to keep fire away from what was stored inside. They give the building a harder, heavier look than the earthen doors of a plastered storehouse.

The end of the corridor

The corridor that leaves the main house and passes the kura zashiki ends here. The stone block at the south edge of the site closes the line of buildings that runs down from the north.

Seeing it

The official website does not say how the Aizanso Stone Storehouse is used today. The steel truss in the roof can only be seen from inside, so contact the restaurant beforehand if you would like to look.

The exterior can be seen from the southern part of the garden. Directions and opening hours are on the Aizanso page.