Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet

About the Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet

The Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet (矢吹家住宅外便所, Yabuki-ke Jūtaku Sotobenjo) is a small single-storey toilet building of the early Showa era (1926 to 1945), standing east of the earth-floored end of the main house and eave to eave with the miso storehouse on the Yabuki family estate in Narukawa, Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2015.

The Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet runs east to west under a gabled roof of pantiles, with a lean-to (Geya) on the north side. With a building area of 19 m², it is the smallest of the registered buildings on the estate for which an area is given.

Three Stalls and a Round Window

The southern half of the Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet holds three toilet stalls; the northern half is a storeroom. On the west face, on the stall side, is a round window.

The walls are Shinkabe construction, with posts left exposed, finished in white lime plaster above a board wainscot. It is a plain, tidy finish, and the round window gives the little building its character.

The national database is inconsistent here: its structure field lists the building as clay-walled, while its description calls it a timber building with exposed posts and plaster. This article follows the description, which gives the fuller account of the exterior.

A Toilet for the Household Staff

The Agency for Cultural Affairs believes the Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet was built for servants. It stands right next to the doma, the earth-floored work area of the main house, where it would have been convenient for those working there.

Toilet buildings are among the first things to be rebuilt or demolished as living habits change. A three-stall outhouse surviving on the estate says a good deal about a household that employed staff. The Agency's description says it conveys how daily life was lived here.

The Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for its contribution to the historic landscape.

Seeing the Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet

The Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet stands west of the miso storehouse, which means behind it as seen from the street. It is probably almost entirely hidden from the road, and the west face with the round window looks into the estate. The interior is not open either (checked October 2026).

There is currently no way to see the Yabuki Family Residence Outdoor Toilet, but knowing it sits just behind the street-front miso storehouse helps make sense of how the front and back of the estate worked together. Directions are on the Yabuki Family Residence page.