Yabashi Family Residence West Storehouse

The Largest Storehouse, from Early Meiji

The Yabashi Family Residence West Storehouse (矢橋家住宅西蔵, Yabashi-ke Jūtaku Nishigura) is a fireproof storehouse of around 1868, the start of the Meiji era, on the Yabashi estate beside the old Nakasendō highway in Akasaka, Ogaki City, Gifu Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 1997.

It is the largest of the estate's 3 storehouses, a timber building of 2 storeys with a tiled roof and a footprint of 61 square metres. The 3 storehouses share a timber, 2-storey, tile-roofed form but differ in size: the East Storehouse covers 29 square metres, the Middle Storehouse 52 square metres and the West Storehouse 61 square metres.

Built some 30 years after the Tenpō-era East and Middle Storehouses, the Yabashi Family Residence West Storehouse belongs with the Tea House to the estate's final phase. Adding a bigger kura in early Meiji suggests the household and its business were still operating on a large scale as Japan entered a new era.

2 Doorways and a Row of Plastered Shutters

The West Storehouse was registered as a model of its type. Its walls follow the same system as the other 2: thick plastered earthen walls that are then clad in sasarako-style clapboard siding. On the east face an open pent roof on posts forms a covered kuramae in front of the doors.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs picks out 2 differences from the other storehouses:

• it has 2 doorways
• its upper floor has a large number of doors finished in lime plaster

Plaster-faced doors are the fire shutters of a kura, swung shut when fire threatens so that the building seals itself. With a row of them upstairs and a second doorway below, the Yabashi Family Residence West Storehouse has more openings than either of its neighbours, and the mix of heavy walls and many shutters gives it a look of its own.

Where the West Storehouse Stands

The Yabashi Family Residence West Storehouse stands at the rear of the estate, screened by the Main House and the boundary walls, and is difficult to see from the old Nakasendō.

Its 2 doorways and plastered upper shutters are details seen from within the grounds. What matters for a visitor is the sequence: 2 kura from the Tenpō era, then this larger one in early Meiji, completing the set of 3 at the back of the Yabashi property.

Visiting

The West Storehouse is not open to the public, and neither its interior nor its exterior can be viewed.

Please do not look through the gate or enter the grounds. There is no admission charge or booking system.