Nishino Family Residence Mosquito Net, Miso and Paper Storehouses

Three Stores in One Long Range

The Nishino Family Residence Mosquito Net, Miso and Paper Storehouses (西野家住宅蚊帳蔵・味噌蔵・紙蔵, Nishino-ke Jūtaku Kayagura, Misogura and Kamigura) are a range of earthen-walled storehouses built in the late Edo period (1830–1868) and extended around 1925 in Sadatomo-cho, Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 June 2017. The range is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri building with a tiled roof and a building area of 218 square metres, registered as number 18-0179.

Three storerooms run east to west in a single line, facing the main house across the compound from its south-east corner. As the names suggest, they presumably held mosquito nets, miso and paper. After the main house, this is the largest of the six registered Nishino buildings by floor area.

A Record of Growth

The Nishino Family Residence Mosquito Net, Miso and Paper Storehouses were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs values them as a large storehouse range that shows how the compound expanded over time.

A late Edo storehouse was lengthened in the mid-1920s with a big paper store for the family business. You can read that growth in the outline of the building itself.

The Raised Ridge of the Paper Store

All three Nishino stores are 4 Ken deep. From the east come the mosquito net store (3 ken), the miso store (2 ken) and the paper store (6 ken). The first two share one continuous gabled roof, while the paper store, the later addition, carries its ridge a step higher. Follow the break in the roofline and you can see where the Taisho extension begins.

At 6 ken, the paper store is by far the longest of the three. The Fukui Heritage Council describes it as a three-storey store and the largest on the site, while the national database records the range as two storeys, so the sources differ on the number of floors.

The north side, facing the main house, is covered along its full length by a Geya lean-to roof. The door frames carry the family crest and the company mark, a sign that the storehouse fronts were meant to be seen from inside the compound. Inside, the posts are exposed in Shinkabe walls and the roof is framed with sloping Nobori-bari rafters.

Seeing the Storehouses

The Nishino Family Residence Mosquito Net, Miso and Paper Storehouses stand in the south-east of the private compound and are not visible from the street. They can only be seen when the grounds are opened.

The Nishino storehouses serve as a venue for the Imadate Contemporary Paper Art Exhibition, and during the show visitors may enter them to see the works. Check the programme for which stores are in use. Stand under the lean-to on the north side to see the crests on the door frames, then look along the range from the east end to the raised ridge of the paper store.