Miyake Family Residence Clothing Storehouse

About the Miyake Family Residence Clothing Storehouse

The Miyake Family Residence Clothing Storehouse (三宅家住宅衣裳蔵, Miyake-ke Jūtaku Ishōgura) is a late Edo-period earthen-walled storehouse, dated to between 1751 and 1830, in Inarimachi, Kaita Town, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, and was entered on the register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on May 2, 2017. Built in the Dozo-zukuri manner with a pantiled roof (Sangawara-buki), it has a building area of 63 square meters.

The Miyake plot is long and narrow, running north to south. The Clothing Storehouse stands halfway down, toward the east side. Its front faces west, onto the passage that runs through the estate, and across that passage it faces the new storehouse.

It measures 5 Ken along its length (Ketayuki) and 3 across (Harima). Each of its two floors is a single open room.

Why It Was Registered

The Miyake Family Residence Clothing Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape of the nation. The Agency for Cultural Affairs presents it as one of the buildings that make up the compound of an early modern merchant house.

Only four of the six registered buildings go back to the late Edo period: the main house, this storehouse, the old rice storehouse and the rear gate. The Clothing Storehouse therefore belongs to the oldest layer of the compound. Standing halfway along the passage from the shop on the highway to the gate by the river, it gives the estate much of its depth.

In Japanese, an ishōgura is a store for clothing and household furnishings. Neither the Agency nor Kaita Town, however, records what this one actually held.

What to Look For

An eave along the whole front

The most distinctive feature of the Miyake Family Residence Clothing Storehouse is the eave, 1 ken deep, that runs the full length of its west front. It creates a long covered strip in front of the building, running beside the passage.

Only the southern end of that covered strip is walled in, as a tool store. The eave is doing double duty, as rain shelter and as a small shed, and the arrangement shows how the building was used day to day.

The largest storehouse footprint

At 63 square meters, the Clothing Storehouse has the largest building area of the four storehouses and is second only to the main house among the six registered buildings. Its bay counts, 5 by 3, match those of the old rice storehouse, so the difference in area probably comes from the eave along the front. Note, though, that the Agency's description of the old rice storehouse calls that building the largest storehouse on the site. It does not say by what measure, and the figure looks inconsistent with the registered building areas.

Facing the new storehouse

Across the passage stands the new storehouse of the late Meiji era. A late Edo store facing one built several decades to a century or more later shows how the family added storage generation by generation.

Visiting

The Miyake Family Residence Clothing Storehouse stands inside the grounds of a private house, and neither the grounds nor the building are open (checked September 27, 2026).

The storehouse sits on the east side of the internal passage, behind the main house, with its eave facing the passage. Expect little or none of its front to be visible from the old Saigoku Kaidō. Check what can be seen from the public road on the spot, and please do not look into the grounds.