Katayama Family Residence South Storehouse

The Clothing Store Behind the House

The Katayama Family Residence South Storehouse (片山家住宅南の蔵, Katayama-ke Jūtaku Minami no Kura) is a 2-storey storehouse for clothing, built around 1885 in Nitta Tameikecho, Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004.

It stands north-west of the main house on the homestead of the Katayamas, the old headman family of Tameike village, directly south of the north storehouse. A dozo-zukuri store with plastered earthen walls and a tiled roof, it covers 23 square metres, about half the size of its neighbour, and was built at the same time.

An ishō-gura, or clothing store, held a household's kimono and other garments. Here the work was split between two buildings: tools to the north, clothing to the south, with the pair together enclosing the garden behind the house.

Why It Was Registered

The south storehouse received registration number 10-0115 in the 40th round of national registrations, dated 2004/2/17, for contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Katayama Family Residence South Storehouse, together with the north storehouse, as shaping the back garden of the main house. Where the north store runs east to west, the south store turns its ridge north to south, so the two can be read as an L that lines the north and west sides of the garden. Turning one building at a right angle to the other is what creates the sense of an enclosed space at the back of the homestead.

What to Look For

A small store on a north-south ridge

The Minami no Kura measures 2 and a half ken by 2 ken, with its ridge running north to south. It is a hirairi store of 2 storeys, entered on a long side, so its long faces look east and west.

A roof to match its neighbour

Like the north storehouse, it has an okiyane, a roof framed separately and set over the earthen body. The two stores were built to the same method, roof included.

A lean-to on the east, a window on the south gable

At the centre of the east face is a geya lean-to 2 ken wide, which probably sheltered the doorway from the rain. In the south gable end, a window opens at upper-floor level.

Visiting

The Katayama Family Residence South Storehouse is part of a private home and is not open; as of October 2026 we found no announcement of open days. It stands behind the main house, and we have not confirmed whether it can be seen from outside the property. Please stay off the grounds and respect the residents' privacy.

Photographs in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database show the exterior.