A small kura built for very large paper
Along the lane east of the mill's office stands Kogura, a compact two-story storehouse facing south. Built in 1949, it began life as a drying place for oban washi (大判和紙), the outsized sheets of handmade paper for which the Iwano Heizaburo Paper Mill is known. The name reads as a small kura (storehouse), yet the paper it served was anything but small.
The mill can form single sheets on a vat measuring about two by 2.7 meters, and its range runs to enormous dimensions used for painting and mural paper. Kogura is where such sheets, once formed and pressed, were brought to dry and settle.
Why it matters
Kogura was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in February 2021 among the eight mill buildings, under the criterion of contributing to the region's historical landscape. It is built as a plaster-walled dozo (土蔵造), two stories, with a tiled roof and a lean-to at the rear.
The scale of paper made here is part of the mill's fame. In 1925, while Yokoyama Taikan was staying in Otaki, the first Iwano Heizaburo formed the okadaishi (岡大紙), said at the time to be the world's largest sheet at some 5.4 meters square. A building dedicated to drying oversized paper follows directly from that ambition.
What to look for
The exterior is finished in plaster carried up to the eaves, with the lower wall rendered in mortar. Inside, each of the two floors is a single room: the ground floor has earthen walls, the upper floor is lined with vertical boards, a practical surface for handling large sheets.
Kogura sits close to the office and, with the fiber-boiling house, shapes the streetscape along the eastern edge of the site. The sloping lane gives the row its character, and Kogura is one of the buildings the 2021 registration set out to keep.
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Q&A
- What does the name Kogura mean?
- It reads as a small kura, or storehouse. Despite the modest name, the building originally served to dry oban washi, the very large handmade sheets the mill specializes in.
- How large is the paper made here?
- The mill forms sheets on a vat of about two by 2.7 meters, and historically produced far larger works, including the okadaishi of 1925, reported as roughly 5.4 meters square.
- When and how was it built?
- It dates to 1949 and is built as a two-story plaster-walled dozo with a tiled roof, a form chosen to shield paper from fire and damp.
- Can visitors see it?
- Kogura stands along the lane at the eastern edge of the working mill and is best viewed from outside. Tours and sutra-copying can be arranged with the mill.
Basic Information
| Name | 岩野平三郎製紙所コグラ (Kogura Storehouse) |
|---|---|
| Location | Otaki, Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Registered | February 26, 2021 |
| Registration no. | 18-227 |
| Count | 1 building |
| Date of construction | Showa 24 (1949) |
| Structure | Two-story wood frame (dozo plaster-wall type), tile roof; footprint 41 sq m |
| Registration criterion | Contributes to the historical landscape of the region |
| Owner | Iwano Heizaburo Paper Mill Co., Ltd. |
| Access | Active workshop; exterior viewing from the lane. Tours and sutra-copying by prior arrangement |
References
- 文化庁 — 国指定文化財等データベース（登録有形文化財）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013725
- 株式会社岩野平三郎製紙所 公式サイト
- https://www.iwanoheizaburouseisisho.com/
- ECHIZEN WASHI — 越前和紙工業協同組合
- https://echizen-washi.com/people/washimakers/washimakers-767/
- 越前市観光協会 — 岩野平三郎製紙所
- https://www.echizen-tourism.jp/travel_echizen/experience_detail/174
Last verified: 2026.07.05