Former Horikiri Family Residence New Storehouse

About the Former Horikiri Family Residence New Storehouse

The Former Horikiri Family Residence New Storehouse (旧堀切家住宅新蔵, Kyū Horikiri-ke Jūtaku Shinkura) is a two-story earthen-walled storehouse just north of the main house on the Kyu Horikiri-tei estate in Iizaka-machi, Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, built in the mid-Meiji era (1883 to 1897) and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2020.

The Kyu Horikiri-tei website dates it to about 1887. Because it was built after the fire of 1880, it came to be called the new storehouse. The family used it to store clothing, mostly kimono.

The Horikiri New Storehouse stands on the west boundary of the grounds, immediately north of the main house, and a corridor joins the two. It is a two-story Dozo-zukuri building with a building area of 28 square meters.

Why the New Storehouse Was Registered

The Former Horikiri Family Residence New Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a carefully made storehouse, finished with attention to detail.

All three storehouses on the estate have gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) roofs of red pantiles and share one design. In its notes on the tool storehouse, the Agency says this consistency gives the back of the estate its unity. The new storehouse closes the row on the west.

What to Look For at the New Storehouse

The Former Horikiri Family Residence New Storehouse is compact, 2.5 ken by 2 ken (a ken is about 1.8 meters), with its ridge running north to south and a red Sangawara-buki pantile roof. On the south side, an upstairs window has a small canopy (Hisashi) carried on brackets carved in the shape of clouds. It is the most decorative touch on the building, so look up at it from the south.

A thickened plaster band (Hachimaki) runs under the eaves, and a drip course runs around the foot of the walls to throw off rainwater. Both are there to protect the earthen walls, and here they also give the outline of the storehouse a crisp edge.

The Agency describes the walls as finished in plaster. The Kyu Horikiri-tei website, for its part, mentions a story that the walls were painted black as wartime camouflage. Check the color for yourself when you visit.

Inside, look for the zelkova box staircase to the upper floor. Drawers are built into the space under the steps, a sensible detail for a storehouse full of kimono.

Visiting the New Storehouse

Only the ground floor of the Former Horikiri Family Residence New Storehouse is open. It can be visited during Kyu Horikiri-tei's opening hours with free admission, and the box staircase is viewed from below.

Displays inside cover the origins of the Horikiri family and the ancestry of Horikiri Zenbei, a family tree, and a bird's-eye picture map of the estate as it once was (checked October 2026). The map is a good place to start before walking the rest of the grounds.

The cloud-shaped brackets and the plaster band are easiest to see from north of the main house, looking up at the south face of the storehouse.