Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse

What Is the Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse?

The Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse (倉員家住宅土蔵, Kurakazu-ke Jūtaku Dozō) is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse built in 1891 in Kitakawauchi, Joyo-machi, Yame City, Fukuoka Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2018.

The Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse stands on top of the Ishigaki stone wall along the south edge of the compound and faces north, so its front looks straight across at the main house. It covers 51 m², exactly the same as the barn beside it on the south side. It went up six years after the main house.

Why the Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse Was Registered

The Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 2, 2018, for its contribution to the historic landscape, under registration number 40-0157.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as one of the ancillary buildings that enclose the front yard of the main house, showing the traditional layout of a farmstead. Its significance lies less in the storehouse on its own than in where it stands: facing the house across the yard, it helps the whole compound read as a working farm.

What to Look for at the Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse

The Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse has a Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof of tile with its ridge running east to west. A single doorway opens toward the east end of the front, sheltered by a small Hisashi canopy, and a flight of stone steps has been built in front of it.

The walls are finished in Shikkui lime plaster, with vertical boarding only around the lower part, the wainscot. The barn next door uses the same finish, plaster above and boards below, so the two buildings on the south side of the lot match in their outer walls.

Inside, the ground floor has an earthen floor and the upper floor is boarded, beneath a Wagoya, the traditional Japanese roof frame of stacked beams and short posts. It is a straightforward storehouse arrangement: an earth-floored ground level with plank-floored storage above.

Visiting the Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse

The Kurakazu Family Residence Storehouse stands on private residential land and is not open to the public. It sits on the stone wall at the south edge of the lot, but how much of it can be seen from the road has not been confirmed. Please view it only from outside the property. Directions are on the page for the Kurakazu Family Residence.