Ota Family Residence South Storehouse

What the Ota Family Residence South Storehouse Is

The Ota Family Residence South Storehouse (太田家住宅南土蔵, Ōta-ke Jūtaku Minami Dozō) is an early Showa-era storehouse, built between 1926 and 1945, on the Ota family estate in Saijo-Okamachi, Higashihiroshima City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and it was entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 4 February 2021.

It is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse with fire-resistant earthen walls, a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof in red pantiles, and a ridge running north to south. The footprint is 26 square metres. The Ota Family Residence South Storehouse stands northeast of the main house, set back a little from the old Saigoku Kaidō, with its door on the west side.

The estate has a second storehouse to the north, but this one sits closer to the road and pairs with the main house in the view from the street.

Why the Ota Family Residence South Storehouse Was Registered

Like the other five structures on the lot, the Ota Family Residence South Storehouse was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the nation.

Although it is set back from the road, the Ota Family Residence South Storehouse turns its south gable toward the street, and that is where the builders spent their effort. The official description singles out this gable for its careful design. A white storehouse gable rising behind a street-front townhouse is part of the classic look of a highway estate, and this building supplies that depth.

What to Look For

Plaster Walls and a Namako-kabe Base

The walls of the Ota Family Residence South Storehouse are finished in white Shikkui lime plaster, with a Namako-kabe dado at the base: flat tiles fixed to the wall with raised plaster joints. The tiles protect the part of the wall most exposed to splashing rain, and the crisscross pattern gives the plain white walls a firm footing.

Windows and Hoods on the South Gable

The south gable has two windows on each floor. On the ground floor a single hood runs the full width of the gable; upstairs, each window gets its own small hood. Seen head-on, that contrast reads as one long horizontal line below and two separate accents above.

Hoods over the Beam Ends

Where the ends of the beams emerge on the gable, each is capped with a small plastered hood. Covering exposed timber in plaster follows the fire-protection logic of a storehouse, and here that practical detail doubles as ornament.

Visiting the Ota Family Residence South Storehouse

The Ota Family Residence South Storehouse stands inside the Ota family estate, and the interior was not open to the public as of September 2026.

To see it, stand on the old highway and look northeast of the main house, where the storehouse sits a step back from the road. The south gable is the part to study: note the different hoods on each floor and the little caps over the beam ends. Please view the Ota Family Residence South Storehouse from the road only and do not enter the lot or look over the walls.