Wada Family Residence Storehouse

About the Wada Family Residence Storehouse

The Wada Family Residence Storehouse (和田家住宅土蔵, Wada-ke Jūtaku Dozō) is a two-storey earthen-walled storehouse in the southwest corner of the Wada property in Hachimancho, Kasamatsu Town, Gifu Prefecture, built in the early Showa period between 1926 and 1945 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 28, 2017.

It is a Dozo-zukuri building with a tiled roof and a building area of 41 square meters, 4 bays long and 3 bays deep. The Wada storehouse is entered from its gable end (Tsumairi), faces east, and is joined to the main house by an earth-floored passage.

Why It Was Registered: A Storehouse That Shapes the Street

The Wada Family Residence Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic townscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it helps form the view along the street.

Its position does much of the work. A wall runs along the south side of the lot, and the storehouse stands raised at that corner, so its upper walls and tiled roof rise above the wall line and give the street scene a depth a plain wall would not.

What to Look For: Tortoise-Shell Stonework and Clay Shutters

Start at the base. The Wada storehouse sits a step above the ground on a plinth of rounded stones laid in Kikkōzumi, the tortoise-shell pattern, where each stone is shaped toward a hexagon so the joints read like the plates of a shell. Raising a storehouse floor keeps damp out; here the builders made that practical base into something to look at.

The window shutters are heavy clay doors. There is a window on the south side of the ground floor and one on the east side of the upper floor, each closed by a thick, plastered door. These are what protect a storehouse from fire, and their bulk shows even from outside.

The lower part of the walls is clad in timber boarding (Koshiita) to protect the earthen walls from rain splash, forming a band around the foot of the building.

Inside, the Wada Family Residence Storehouse has plank floors and a single open room on each level. As a store for household goods, it is a plain and straightforward interior.

Visiting the Storehouse

The Wada Family Residence Storehouse stands inside a private property. The interior is not open, and the grounds cannot be entered.

From the street, the Wada storehouse can be seen over the wall at the southwest corner of the lot. How much you see depends on where you stand, so walk past the gate and along the south side of the lot to judge the height of the roof and the position of the clay shutters.