A Storehouse Built for Singing
Shiunkaku of the Former Yoshida Family Residence (旧吉田家住宅紫雲閣, Kyū-Yoshida-ke Jūtaku Shiunkaku, also written Kyu-Yoshidake Jutaku Shiunkaku) is a two-storey zashiki-gura at 82 Ōmachi in Miharu Town, Tamura District, Fukushima Prefecture, built around 1895 in the Meiji period and listed as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings) on 17 August 2020.
A zashiki-gura is a storehouse fitted out as a sitting room. The thick earthen walls that would ordinarily protect rice or ledgers are turned instead to holding a finished interior, and the building becomes somewhere to receive people rather than somewhere to keep things. Miharu, as a former castle town, had earthen-walled storehouses in quantity from the Edo period onward. What the town's cultural property office notes is that one decorated inside to this pitch was rare.
Shiunkaku takes the upper step of the Yoshida plot, northwest of and above the main house, and a lean-to roof in the manner of a veranda is attached to it at a right angle. That placement was deliberate. Yoshida Seijirō, the raw-silk merchant who built the compound, practised and performed yōkyoku, the chanted text of Noh drama, and he wanted the room he sang in to have a view. The name is understood to come from Shiunji, the temple next door.
The building is earthen-walled storehouse construction of two storeys, roofed in tile, with a footprint of 48 square metres. It is small. Everything it has to say, it says in that small volume.
The Lacquer Room: Red, and Wrapped in Dragons
The Agency for Cultural Affairs registered Shiunkaku under number 07-0239, in the 96th round, against the criterion that a property is a model of design. This is a different test from the one applied to the main house next door, which was taken up for its contribution to the historic landscape. Shiunkaku was taken up for what it looks like.
The second-floor room is where the case is made. According to the national register entry, the framing members are finished in a reddish isogusa pattern, a decorative surface treatment; the alcove post and the otoshigake lintel above the alcove are wrapped with dragon carvings; and the flat kagami ceiling is bordered in a circle and finished in red lacquer. Every timber in the room is lacquered. Local accounts call it the lacquer room, and visitors tend to look up before they look anywhere else.
The dragons are worth a slow minute. On the alcove post the carving climbs, giving the impression of a creature ascending, and on the sliding fusuma panels of the same room dragons appear again in openwork, cut through the panel so that light passes between the coils. Even the pulls on the doors and screens are individually worked.
The register's own summing-up is unusually direct for a government database: an inventive design, using a wide range of craft techniques, of a kind seldom encountered. The mix is part of what makes it so. Dragons and red lacquer belong to a Chinese vocabulary; the veranda-like lean-to belongs to a Western one; the shell holding both is a Japanese earthen storehouse. Good-quality figured timber, the same taste for meiboku visible in the main house, runs through all of it.
Closed for Repair, Reopened in 2023
Miharu Town received the property from the Yoshida family. The main house was repaired and opened in 1998 as the Miharu Town Bunka Denshōkan, but Shiunkaku deteriorated and had to be shut. Repair work followed, and the building reopened to visitors on 9 April 2023.
The town has described the approach taken. A staircase that had been steep and unsafe was among the parts altered, but the work otherwise kept as much original material as possible, restoring rather than replacing, with the aim of holding on to the old character of the rooms and to the view from the high ground.
That view is the reason to climb up in the first place. From Shiunkaku you look out over the roofs of Miharu, and in spring the town below fills with cherry blossom. Miharu is cherry country: the Takizakura, a weeping cherry designated a Natural Monument, is a few kilometres away and pulls visitors from across Japan in April.
Admission to Shiunkaku costs 200 yen for adults, 150 yen for groups, and 100 yen for elementary, junior high and high school students and for holders of a disability certificate, 70 yen in a group. The ticket is shared with the Miharu Local Doll Museum, another converted zashiki-gura in the same Ōmachi district; a wider three-site ticket covering the Historical Folk Museum as well costs 400 yen for adults and 200 yen for students. The main house, by contrast, is free.
Hours and closures follow the main house: 9:00 to 16:30, closed Mondays and the day after public holidays, and open only at weekends and on public holidays from December through February. Access is from Miharu Station on the JR Ban'etsu East Line, about 30 minutes on foot or five by taxi, or by Fukushima Kōtsū bus to the Chūō Ōmachi stop, five minutes' walk. There is no dedicated car park; the Miharu Kōryūkan "Mahora" car park is five minutes away on foot. Enquiries go to the Miharu Town Historical Folk Museum on 0247-62-5263.
A note on the name. Another property called the Former Yoshida Family Residence exists in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, with eight buildings designated Important Cultural Properties in 2010. It has no connection to the Miharu Yoshida family, and it has no Shiunkaku.
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Q&A
- Can Shiunkaku of the Former Yoshida Family Residence be visited, and what is the admission fee?
- Yes. It reopened on 9 April 2023 after repair work. Admission is 200 yen for adults (150 yen for groups) and 100 yen for school students and holders of a disability certificate (70 yen for groups), with the ticket shared with the Miharu Local Doll Museum. Opening hours are 9:00 to 16:30.
- What kind of building is Shiunkaku of the Former Yoshida Family Residence?
- A two-storey zashiki-gura, an earthen-walled storehouse fitted out as a sitting room. It is tiled, covers 48 square metres, and has a veranda-like lean-to attached at a right angle. It was built around 1895 as a detached wing where the owner could practise and perform Noh chant.
- What is the lacquer room in Shiunkaku of the Former Yoshida Family Residence?
- The second-floor room. Its framing members carry a reddish isogusa pattern, the alcove post and the lintel above the alcove are wrapped with dragon carvings, and the flat kagami ceiling is bordered in a circle and finished in red lacquer. All the timber in the room is lacquered, and dragons appear again as openwork in the sliding screens.
- When was Shiunkaku of the Former Yoshida Family Residence registered as a Cultural Property?
- On 17 August 2020, as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings), under registration number 07-0239 in the 96th round. The registration criterion applied was that the property is a model of design, which differs from the criterion used for the main house.
- How do I get to Shiunkaku of the Former Yoshida Family Residence, and where can I park?
- Take the JR Ban'etsu East Line to Miharu Station, then walk about 30 minutes or take a taxi for around five. Fukushima Kōtsū buses bound for Miharu stop at Chūō Ōmachi, five minutes' walk away. There is no car park at the site, so drivers use the Miharu Kōryūkan "Mahora" car park about five minutes away on foot.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Yoshida Family Residence, Shiunkaku (旧吉田家住宅紫雲閣 / きゅうよしだけじゅうたくしうんかく) |
|---|---|
| Location | 82 Ōmachi, Miharu Town, Tamura District, Fukushima Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings), registration number 07-0239, 96th round; registration criterion: a model of design |
| Year Designated | 17 August 2020 (Reiwa 2) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Earthen-walled storehouse construction, two storeys, tiled roof; building area 48 m² |
| Owner | Miharu Town |
| Public Access | Reopened 9 April 2023 after repair. Adults 200 yen (groups 150 yen); students and holders of a disability certificate 100 yen (groups 70 yen); ticket shared with the Miharu Local Doll Museum. Three-site ticket including the Historical Folk Museum: adults 400 yen, students 200 yen. Open 9:00 to 16:30; closed Mondays and the day after public holidays; December to February open weekends and holidays only. Enquiries: Miharu Town Historical Folk Museum, tel. 0247-62-5263 |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Former Yoshida Family Residence Shiunkaku
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00013346
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Yoshida Family Residence Shiunkaku
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/380324
- Miharu Town Historical Folk Museum: Cultural Properties of Miharu, Former Yoshida Family Residence Shiunkaku
- https://www.town.miharu.fukushima.jp/soshiki/19/kyuyosidateishiunkaku.html
- Miharu Town Historical Folk Museum: Bunka Denshōkan and Shiunkaku, visitor information
- https://www.town.miharu.fukushima.jp/soshiki/19/about/shiunkaku/
- Fukushima Prefectural Board of Education, Utsukushima Digital Encyclopedia: Former Yoshida Family Residence Shiunkaku
- https://www.gimu.fks.ed.jp/plugin/databases/detail/2/18/922
Last verified: 2026.08.25