Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse

About the Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse

The Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse (矢吹家住宅文庫蔵, Yabuki-ke Jūtaku Bunkogura) is a two-storey clay-walled storehouse built in 1914 on the west side of the main house on the Yabuki family estate in Narukawa, Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2015.

The Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse is a clay-walled storehouse with its ridge running north to south and a gabled roof of pantiles. Its building area is 53 m². It went up two years after the main house was completed.

A Different Finish on Every Side

The walls of the Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse are finished differently from side to side. On the west, the lower wall is of coursed stone with Namako-kabe above it, the grid of tiles and raised white plaster joints typical of Japanese storehouses. The other sides combine namako-kabe with black plaster.

Coursed stone means stones laid in level rows with continuous horizontal joints. The base of a clay wall takes the worst of the rain and splashing mud, and here it is protected in stone. Why only the west face was treated this way is not explained.

White-jointed tile panels meet expanses of black plaster. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a storehouse of solid, dignified character that sets off the whole estate.

A Storehouse Reached by Corridor

The door of the Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse is in its north gable and opens onto a corridor leading from the main house. Since the finest reception rooms are at the west end of the house, the storehouse is entered from that formal side.

Upstairs is a Japanese-style room, and the southern room has a batten-and-board ceiling (Saobuchi-tenjō). The upper floor was finished as a place where people could spend time, not just a place for storage.

The Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for its contribution to the historic landscape. Linked by corridor to the reception rooms and fitted with a tatami room upstairs, it was woven closely into the life of the house.

Seeing the Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse

The interior of the Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse is not open, and there is currently no way to see the upstairs room or its ceiling (checked October 2026).

The Yabuki Family Residence Bunko Storehouse stands west of the main house, deep inside the plot as seen from the street on the east. Its stone-based west face looks toward the far side of the estate, and whether it can be seen from any road there has not been confirmed. Please photograph only from public roads. Directions are on the Yabuki Family Residence page.