The Konishi Family Residence Sunagura Storehouse
At the northwestern corner of the Konishi family plot in Nanamatsu, Amagasaki, a compact white-walled storehouse holds down the angle of the street. Called the sunagura, literally the sand storehouse, it dates to around 1904 and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2011, one of six structures in this late-Meiji compound in Hyogo Prefecture.
This is not the Osaka merchant residence of the same family name. The Amagasaki Konishi house was a landowning household at the edge of a former farming village, and its storehouse belongs to that rural setting.
Why It Was Registered
The storehouse was registered on 25 July 2011 under Japan's lighter preservation framework for modern buildings, on the grounds that it helps sustain the historic character of the local landscape. Standing on the corner where two boundaries meet, it is treated in the official record as a key element of the streetscape rather than as an isolated object, and it reads as a pair with the main house behind it.
What to Look For
The building is a dozo, a thick-walled fireproof storehouse of earthen construction finished in white plaster. It is small, roughly 5.9 metres along the ridge by 3.9 metres deep, and rises two storeys under an east-west gable roof laid with hongawara, the heavy pan-and-cover tiling reserved for buildings meant to last. The base sits on cut-stone footings, and every side except the front carries vertical boarding at the lower wall to guard the plaster from splash and knocks.
Two features repay attention. Over the entrance on the south side, a deep pentice roof of sangawara pantiles throws rain clear of the doorway. Just to its west, set into the fabric, is a small shrine, an ordinary act of domestic devotion built into a working building. Together they turn a plain box into something particular to this household.
As with the rest of the compound, the storehouse is on private ground and can only be seen from the surrounding streets.
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Q&A
- What does the name sunagura mean?
- It translates as sand storehouse. The building is a plastered earthen storehouse, the type known as a dozo, used to keep goods safe from fire and damp.
- How large is it?
- It is a small two-storey structure, about 5.9 by 3.9 metres, with a building area near 31 square metres.
- What is the small shrine on the building?
- A hokora, a miniature shrine, is set into the wall west of the south entrance, a common form of household worship.
- Can visitors enter?
- No. The compound is a private residence. The storehouse can be viewed only from the public street at the corner of the plot.
Basic Information
| Name | Konishi Family Residence Sunagura Storehouse (Konishi-ke Jutaku Sunagura) |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-249 and vicinity, Nanamatsu-cho, Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building), registered 25 July 2011 |
| Registration No. | 28-0522 |
| Built | Around 1904 (about Meiji 37) |
| Structure | Earthen storehouse, two storeys, gable roof with hongawara tiles, building area about 31 sq m, with an attached shrine |
| Count | 1 building |
| Access | Private residence, exterior viewing only |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Konishi Family Residence Sunagura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008747
- Amagasaki City — Konishi Family Residence
- https://www.city.amagasaki.hyogo.jp/manabu/bunkazai_0/1028308/1028313/1028796.html
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties — Konishi Family Residence (compound listing)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008746
Last verified: 2026.07.02