Former Kitaokada Family Residence North Barn

What Is the Former Kitaokada Family Residence North Barn?

The Former Kitaokada Family Residence North Barn (旧北岡田家住宅北納屋, Kyū Kitaokada-ke Jūtaku Kita Naya) is a two-storey timber outbuilding built in 1928 in Aiba, Ono Town, Ibi District, Gifu Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on November 2, 2018. It stands behind the Main House along the north side of the estate and has a building area of 98 square meters.

It is the youngest of the six registered buildings. The estate grew from the early Meiji Annex through two late Meiji storehouses, the Main House of 1916 and the late Taishō East Barn, and the North Barn was the last to be added.

A Grain Room and a Pickle Room

The Former Kitaokada Family Residence North Barn has a gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pan tiles running east to west, with a lean-to eave along the whole south side. Inside it is divided into two rooms.

The west room, floored with boards, was the grain room. The east room has an earthen Doma floor and held a pickle room and a stable. A board-floored room and an earthen-floored room thus sit side by side under one roof.

As with the East Barn, the Agency for Cultural Affairs regards it as an outbuilding essential to understanding how a large farming household lived. It holds registration number 21-0269 for its contribution to the historic landscape.

Plastered Inside and Out

The walls of the Former Kitaokada Family Residence North Barn are Shinkabe, with posts left visible. Outside they are finished in Shikkui lime plaster above vertical boarding at the base, and inside they are plastered as well.

The East Barn, built a few years earlier in the late Taishō period, uses the same exposed-post walls but leaves the interior as rough clay. The North Barn received a finished interior. Compare the two barns on the grounds and the difference is easy to see.

Seeing the Kitaokada North Barn

The Former Kitaokada Family Residence North Barn sits at the back of the grounds, north of the Main House, and can be seen on Ono Town's opening days. Its eaved south side faces the Main House, so walk around to the rear of the house to view it.

Ono Town's notice does not mention access to the barn interiors. If you would like to look into the grain room or the pickle room, ask the Ono Akebono Museum (0585-36-1888) in advance.