Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum Storehouse

A Storehouse Built the Old Way

The Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum Storehouse (白鶴美術館土蔵) is a storehouse for the collection of 1934 in Sumiyoshiyamate, Higashinada Ward, Kobe City, Hyogo Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on November 18, 1999 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a 2-storey earthen-walled storehouse roofed in lead sheet, with a building area of 27 square metres; registration number 28-0059.

A Storehouse beside the Corridor

The Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum Storehouse stands on the west side of the corridor, 8 ken long, that links the main building and the office, roughly halfway along it (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is a 2-storey storehouse with a Kirizuma-zukuri roof and its entrance on the long side (Hirairi), the ridge running north to south and the door opening east onto the corridor.

The roof is covered with lead sheet (Agency for Cultural Affairs). With a building area of 27 square metres, the Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum Storehouse is the second smallest of the four registered buildings, after the tea room.

Why It Was Registered

What sets the Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum Storehouse apart is the choice of method. The main building and the office were built in reinforced concrete, but this store was built as a traditional timber Dozo-zukuri storehouse with earthen walls, following a conviction held by Kano Jihei (Agency for Cultural Affairs). For keeping the works themselves, the old way of building a kura was preferred. The Agency registered it as a model of design.

What to Look For

The Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum Storehouse is small, but set beside the concrete main building and office of the same year, its thick-walled kura form stands out all the more. Note too that its door opens onto the corridor side (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Visiting

The Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum Storehouse is a store for the collection, and there is no official information on visiting the interior, nor on how much of the outside can be seen from the corridor; it is worth asking on arrival. Opening dates and directions are on the Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum page.