Yamamoto Rock Machine (Former Yamamoto Iron Works) Self-Governing Dormitory Single Employees' Building

Yamamoto Rock Machine Single Employees' Dormitory: Ten-Mat Rooms along 59 Meters

The Yamamoto Rock Machine (Former Yamamoto Iron Works) Self-Governing Dormitory Single Employees' Building (ヤマモトロックマシン（旧山本鉄工所）自治寮独身棟) is a 2-story timber dormitory for unmarried workers, built around 1941 by a rock drill maker in Tojo-cho, Shobara City, Hiroshima Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 25 February 2016. It runs north to south on the east side of the dormitory block and stretches 59 meters. It has a tiled roof, a building area of 407 square meters and a basement.

The roof is a clipped gable like that of the family building. Where the 3-story family building stands out for its height, the single employees' building stands out for its length: the same 2-story section repeated for 59 meters gives it the greatest bulk of anything in the dormitory block.

Why the Single Employees' Building Was Registered

It was registered for contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as staff housing that supported manufacturing industry from the war years into Japan's high-growth era. Around 1941 the company, incorporated in 1939, was expanding production under military management. The dormitory was most likely built to house that growing workforce, and, as the Agency's assessment implies, it went on housing workers after the war as demand for rock drills climbed.

The plan is clear-cut. A corridor runs down the west side, and rooms of ten tatami mats, each with a built-in futon closet, line the east side. Repeating identical rooms is the logic of a dormitory meant to house many people on equal terms. At the same time, both the corridor and the rooms have wide openings, which reads as a way of bringing light and air deep into the long building, and turning the rooms to the east lets in the morning sun.

According to the group preserving the dormitories, close to 400 people lived here at the peak. The count of ten-mat rooms and the 59-meter length help make that number concrete.

What to Look For at the Single Employees' Building

From outside, find a spot where you can take in the length. The building runs north to south, so if you look along it at an angle, the windows recede in perspective and the 59 meters become tangible. Compare the clipped gable ends with those of the dining hall and the family building next door and you will see that all three match.

If you get inside, stand in the west corridor and look down its length. On one side the doors of the rooms repeat almost without end; on the other, wide windows let in the light. Walking the corridor from end to end is the quickest way to feel the size of the place.

The basement is also unusual for a timber dormitory. The registration record does not say what it was used for, so ask if a guide is on hand during an open day.

Visiting the Single Employees' Building

The Yamamoto Rock Machine single employees' building is on company land and is not open on a regular basis. The dormitory block faces the road south of the factories, so the exterior can be seen from the public road; this building is on the east side of the block.

The interior opens only during tours and events held by the preservation group or the company. The building stood unused for many years and repairs are ongoing, so the accessible areas vary from one opening to the next. Do not enter the grounds without permission, photograph from the road, and follow the organizers' guidance during events.