What an azekura is
An azekura is a storehouse whose walls are made of horizontal timbers, azegi, stacked log-fashion. The timbers are usually cut triangular in section and laid with the flat face inward and the ridge outward, so the inside wall is smooth and the outside shows a row of sharp horizontal ridges. At the corners the timbers interlock alternately, and there are no corner posts.
Ancient Japan also built storehouses of thick planks dropped into grooved posts (itakura) and of round logs (marukikura). Cultural Heritage Online, in its description of the Shosoin, notes that most surviving storehouses of ancient temples are azekura. In the national register the word appears in the structure field after the dimensions, as in three bays by three, azekura, hipped roof, tiled.
The Shosoin repository at Todaiji, of the Nara period, has three chambers raised on posts: the north and south chambers are azekura and the middle one is plank-built. It is among the largest Nara-period azekura and the only surviving example of the paired-storehouse form. The treasure house of Toshodaiji, also Nara period, keeps its original interior shelving and is described as a representative Nara azekura.
What to look for
The corners are the surest guide. No post, with timbers crossing alternately, means an azekura; a corner post with planks between means a plank storehouse. Sharp triangular ridges on the wall indicate azekura, rounded faces a log store.
Most azekura stand on raised floors under hipped roofs. Temples used them as sutra repositories and treasure houses, and shrines as treasure stores. Todaiji keeps three azekura sutra stores; the one at the abbot's quarters retains round rafters and other early features and is regarded as the representative Nara-period example at the temple.
In writing, call a building an azekura only where the record does. Since the Shosoin combines azekura and plank chambers under one roof, check the record before describing a whole building as one or the other.
References
- Cultural Heritage Online (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Shosoin Repository
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/201499
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Toshodaiji Treasure House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/102/2480
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Todaiji Honbo Sutra Repository
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/102/2454
- JAANUS (Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System): azekura
- https://projects.mcah.columbia.edu/jaanus/record/azekura
Last verified: 2026.10.04