Horiguchi Family Residence South Storehouse

The White-Walled Store at the Heart of the Plot

The Horiguchi Family Residence South Storehouse (堀口家住宅南蔵, Horiguchi-ke Jūtaku Minamigura) is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri clay-walled storehouse of 1897 standing near the centre, toward the west, of the Horiguchi hardware merchants' compound in Kaminocho, Shibukawa City, Gunma Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 4 December 2000.

It measures 6 bays by 2.5 bays, with a building area of 48 square metres, under a Kirizuma-zukuri gable of Sangawara-buki pan tiles, and is entered from the long side in the Hirairi manner. The walls are sealed in white Shikkui plaster. It stands beside the north storehouse, built the same year, on lot 2336.

Why It Was Registered: A Storehouse of 1897 Intact

The Horiguchi Family Residence South Storehouse was registered as a model of its building type. Like the north storehouse it has Namako-kabe tiling on its lower walls, and above that it is plastered white, preserving the look of a storehouse of its time.

The shop storehouse on the street is finished in black plaster; the South Storehouse, set well back, is white. Comparing the two suggests that the Horiguchi family finished the building customers saw differently from the one that simply held goods, even though both use the same clay-walled construction.

What to Look For: A Long Wall and a Covered Work Area

The Horiguchi Family Residence South Storehouse is longer than its neighbour. White plaster runs the full 6-bay length of the wall, anchored at the base by the tiled namako-kabe. At 48 square metres, against the 33 square metres of the north storehouse, it is the larger of the two.

On the west side a lean-to roof, or Geya, forms a Kuramae, a sheltered work area in front of the storehouse door where goods could be moved and sorted even in rain. The north storehouse has lean-tos on two sides; the South Storehouse gathers its lean-to on the west side alone.

Inside, like the north storehouse, the floor is rammed earth, beaten hard. The two stores were plainly built on the same principles.

Visiting the Horiguchi Family Residence South Storehouse

The Horiguchi Family Residence South Storehouse is one of the buildings Horiguchi Co., Ltd. keeps as its former head office, the Misegura Kinenkan. No opening days or hours for the interior are published.

It stands near the middle of the plot, behind the shop and annex on the road, and how much of it can be seen from the street has not been confirmed. Please do not enter the grounds. The photographs in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database show the white walls and tiled base.