Former Kitaokada Family Residence Rice Storehouse

What Is the Former Kitaokada Family Residence Rice Storehouse?

The Former Kitaokada Family Residence Rice Storehouse (旧北岡田家住宅米蔵, Kyū Kitaokada-ke Jūtaku Komegura) is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri earthen-walled storehouse built in 1904 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 in the southeast corner of the Kitaokada estate, has a building area of 83 square meters, and was extended in the late Taishō period.

It held the rice of a family that owned wide tracts of farmland, and it is one of the buildings you can see clearly from the lane outside the wall.

A Stone Base Shaped by a Flood

What defines the Kitaokada Rice Storehouse is the tall stone base beneath it. The storehouse sits on a wall of rounded river cobbles, which lifts its floor well above the level of the road.

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, that height was a lesson learned from the flood of 1896. The storehouse went up eight years later, and keeping the stored rice above the water evidently set how high it would stand.

It holds registration number 21-0266 and qualifies for its contribution to the historic landscape. The agency singles out the strong presence it gives to the village streetscape.

Walls and Doorway

The Former Kitaokada Family Residence Rice Storehouse has a gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pan tiles running east to west. The walls are finished in white Shikkui lime plaster, with vertical boards covering only the lower part. The plaster continues up and over the underside of the eaves, so almost no timber shows beneath the roof.

The doorway is on the north side, facing into the compound, and opens into a small front chamber before the storeroom proper.

On its east side, the Rice Storehouse is joined by the East Barn, built in the late Taishō period.

Seeing the Kitaokada Rice Storehouse

The Former Kitaokada Family Residence Rice Storehouse can be seen from the lane on any day. Stand at the southeast corner of the property and the stacked cobbles and white walls rise in front of you. The lanes are narrow, so walk rather than stopping a car to look.

To see the north doorway from inside the grounds, come on one of Ono Town's opening days. The town's notice says nothing about entry to the storehouse interior.