Nishino Family Residence New, Middle and Large Storehouses

Three Stores Facing East

The Nishino Family Residence New, Middle and Large Storehouses (西野家住宅新蔵・中蔵・大蔵, Nishino-ke Jūtaku Shingura, Nakagura and Ōgura) are a range of earthen-walled storehouses built around 1889 and extended in the early Showa era 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 steel-sheet roof and a building area of 154 square metres, registered as number 18-0180.

It stands in the north-west of the compound and faces east, with three storerooms in a line running north to south. It was renovated in 1993.

Why the Range Was Registered

The Nishino Family Residence New, Middle and Large Storehouses were registered for their contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs points to the heavy doorway of the large store and the black-plastered fronts of the new and middle stores, which together shape the look of the compound.

The Fukui Heritage Council dates the large store to around 1889 and the new and middle stores to the early Showa era. The names fit that sequence: a Meiji large store, a newer store set beside it, and a middle store that presumably joined the two. Echizen City's list gives around 1879 instead; this site follows the national database.

Three Layers of Doors, and Black Plaster

The Nishino range is 3 Ken deep, with the large store (4 ken) at the north end, the new store (5 ken) at the south and the middle store (1.5 ken) between them. A Geya lean-to runs the full length of the east front.

The doorway of the large store, the oldest part, is hung with three sets of doors one behind another: a thick fireproof earthen door, a wooden door and a lattice door.

The fronts of the new and middle stores are finished in black Shikkui plaster, which reads as a dark, sober band in the shade of the lean-to. Set the Meiji large store beside the Showa new store and you can see how the finish changed within one family's buildings.

Seeing the Storehouses

The Nishino Family Residence New, Middle and Large Storehouses stand in the north-west of the private compound, facing inward, and cannot be seen from the street. Visits are limited to special openings.

The Nishino storehouses also serve as a venue for the Imadate Contemporary Paper Art Exhibition; check each year's programme for which stores are used. Once inside the grounds, stand before the east lean-to and look first at the large store's doorway at the north end, then at the black plaster of the new store to the south.