What kakegonuri means
Kakegonuri is a plastering technique for the doors and windows of clay-walled storehouses, in which the meeting edges of frame and door are built up in lime plaster in several stepped layers. The steps on the frame and on the door are shaped to interlock, so that when the door closes they overlap and seal the gap. It is described as a way of stopping flames and smoke from entering the storehouse in a fire.
The more steps, the more labour and skill the plasterer needs, so kakegonuri has been valued not only as fire protection but also as a sign of a storehouse's standing and of fine plastering. The stepped profiles appear as several lines around the edge of the opening, and in black plaster they give a heavy, dignified look.
Reading the records and the building
Records describe kakegonuri doors, openings and shutters. The archive storehouse of Nagano Meijo in Chikuma, Nagano, is noted for the high standard of plastering in its hinged double doors with kakegonuri and the brackets under its window hoods. At the former Marunaka Yokonaka shop in Nagai, Yamagata, the sugar storehouse has kakegonuri openings in two tiers on its gable end, and another storehouse has three on each floor of its south face. The household shrine of the former Aikawa family is itself built like a storehouse and hung with kakegonuri doors.
On site, look at the edges of a storehouse door or window when it is open. Plaster built out in several steps on the frame and on the door indicates kakegonuri; when the door is shut, the steps show as layered lines around the opening.
References
- 長野銘醸文庫蔵｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010299
- 旧丸中横仲商店砂糖蔵｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010550
- 旧丸中横仲商店土蔵｜国指定文化財等データベース（文化庁）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010551
- 旧相川家住宅稲荷社｜文化遺産オンライン
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/612343
Last verified: 2026.09.26