What garari means
A garari is an opening or door fitted with long slats tilted at an angle and set slightly apart. The angled slats keep out rain and prying eyes while letting air pass, the equivalent of a louver.
Storehouses often have garari high in their gable walls as ventilators to release trapped moisture and heat, and some have plank doors fitted with louvers so that air can pass even when the doors are closed. In Western-style buildings, louvers at the top of the front or in the gables ventilate the roof space and also become part of the design.
Reading the records and the building
Records describe garari or doors with garari. The flour storehouse of the former Marunaka Yokonaka shop in Nagai, Yamagata, entered from its east gable, has garari high in both gables. The rice storehouse of the Tottori family in Mitoyo, Kagawa, has wooden plank doors with louvers at its entrance. The former Momoshima branch office of Onomichi City in Hiroshima, a Western-style office with a half-hipped roof and rendered walls, is noted for the garari at the top of its front and the row of four windows on the upper floor.
On site, look for parallel slanted slats in a wall or door. On storehouses they are often high in the gable and best seen from below.
References
- 旧丸中横仲商店粉蔵｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010553
- 鳥取家住宅米蔵｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00014100
- 旧尾道市役所百島支所庁舎｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/547681
Last verified: 2026.09.27