A Storehouse Built the Year After the House
The Storehouse of the Baba Family Residence (馬場家住宅土蔵, Baba-ke Jūtaku Dozō, also romanised Baba-ke Jutaku Dozo) is a two-storey plastered storehouse in Hirose-chō, Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture, completed in Meiji 25 (1892) and entered on Japan's register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 26 February 2021. It stands at the northwest corner of the family compound, closing the plot on its most exposed side.
The date is worth pausing over. The main house on the same plot dates from about 1891, so the storehouse followed within roughly a year. In a rural household of this rank the sequence was normal rather than remarkable: the dwelling went up first, and the kura that held rice, tools, ceremonial gear and documents went up as soon as the carpenters and plasterers were still on site and the family's finances allowed.
Fukui winters put a hard question to any building. Snow loads are heavy in the Takefu basin, and damp follows the thaw. A storehouse had to keep both out of the goods inside, which explains the thickness of the walls and the care taken at every opening.
Plasterwork Around a Doorway
The building measures four and a half ken along the ridge and three ken across, giving it an east-west orientation under a kirizuma gabled roof of sangawara pantiles, entered on the long side. Building area is 56 square metres. A single doorway sits toward the east end of the south face, sheltered by a low pent roof, the geya.
That doorway is where the craft shows. The plasterers did not simply seal the opening; they modelled the surrounding wall in plaster so that posts and a lintel appear in relief, as though the timber frame had been left visible when in fact it is rendered. Working decorative detail into shikkui at an opening that could have been left plain is a deliberate choice, and it tells you what the family wanted a passer-by to notice.
The walls themselves are built in layers that can be read from the ground up. A plinth of dressed, squared stone rises to waist height. Above it the lower wall is finished in horizontal boarding, the shitamiita, which takes the splash and the abrasion of snow clearing. Above that the plaster runs unbroken to the eaves, enclosing the structure completely. The registration record classifies the fabric as timber-framed two-storey construction, and the plaster is the finish applied over that frame rather than a separate structural system.
Registration came under the criterion for structures contributing to the historic character of the national landscape, and the storehouse was listed as number 18-230 in the ninety-eighth registration round. Its two companions on the plot, the main house at 18-229 and the nagayamon gatehouse at 18-231, were listed on the same day.
Finding It, and What You Can See
The compound remains a private residence. The Agency for Cultural Affairs record leaves the owner field blank, and no city or prefectural body has announced opening hours, an admission fee, or any interior viewing of the storehouse. Visitors should stay on the public road, leave the gate alone, and keep any photograph to an exterior view taken from outside the boundary.
Because the kura sits at the northwest corner while the gatehouse faces south, the two are rarely in the same view. Walk the lane along the west side of the plot and the storehouse gable comes forward: white render above, dark boarding below, the stone plinth grounding it all. The proportion is compact next to the 245 square metres of the main house, and that contrast is part of the point. A compound of this kind depended on its buildings differing in scale and finish.
Hirose-chō lies west of the Echizen city centre. Echizen-Takefu Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, open since March 2024, and Takefu Station on the Hapi-Line Fukui line are each about ten minutes away by car. The Norossa community bus operated by the city passes through the district, though services are sparse enough that checking the timetable in advance saves trouble. There is no visitor parking at the property itself.
The wider area rewards a longer look. The Chausuyama tomb group, a prefecturally designated historic site, extends across Hirose-chō and neighbouring districts, and the Yoshinose River cherry avenue runs about 1.2 kilometres between the Ōta and Nogami bridges. Further out in Ōtaki-chō, the paper-making district of Echizen holds the Ōtaki Shrine complex, an Important Cultural Property, and the registered buildings of the Iwano Heizaburō paper mill.
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Q&A
- Can the Baba Family Residence Storehouse in Echizen City be entered or viewed inside?
- No. The storehouse belongs to a private residence, and no interior opening, admission fee, or visiting hours have been announced. Exterior viewing from the public road is the only option.
- When was the Baba Family Residence Storehouse built, and when was it registered?
- It was built in Meiji 25 (1892), about a year after the main house on the same plot, and was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property (building) on 26 February 2021 under registration number 18-230.
- What makes the Baba Family Residence Storehouse different from an ordinary farm kura?
- The treatment of the doorway. Posts and a lintel are modelled in plaster around the opening so that a timber frame appears in relief, an ornamental effort not usually spent on a working storehouse.
- How large is the Baba Family Residence Storehouse, and how is it built?
- Four and a half ken by three ken, two storeys, with a building area of 56 square metres. A dressed-stone plinth carries horizontal boarding on the lower wall, with plaster running to the eaves above, under a gabled pantile roof.
- Where exactly is the Baba Family Residence Storehouse, and how do I get there?
- At the northwest corner of the compound at 92 Aza-Tsuji 8, Hirose-chō, Echizen City. Takefu Station and Echizen-Takefu Station are each roughly ten minutes away by car; the Norossa community bus serves the district on a limited timetable.
Basic Information
| Name | Baba Family Residence Storehouse (馬場家住宅土蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 92 Aza-Tsuji 8, Hirose-chō, Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), registration no. 18-230 |
| Year Designated | Registered 26 February 2021 (Reiwa 3), 98th registration round |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | Timber, two storeys, tiled roof, building area 56 m²; 4.5 ken by 3 ken |
| Owner | Not disclosed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs record |
| Public Access | Private property; exterior viewing from the public road only, no published interior opening |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Baba Family Residence Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013728
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Baba Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013727
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Baba Family Residence Nagayamon
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013729
- Cultural Heritage Online — Baba Family Residence Nagayamon
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/550885
- Echizen City — List of Cultural Properties by Designation Category
- https://www.city.echizen.lg.jp/office/090/030/shiteibunkazai/siteibetu.html
Last verified: 2026.08.24