Kuroda Seiemon Shoten

A Hardware Wholesaler at Miki with Eleven Registered Buildings

Kuroda Seiemon Shoten stands at lots 980 and 1121, 2-chome Honmachi, Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture, the buildings of a hardware wholesaler, where 11 buildings were entered on the register of tangible cultural properties on 5 December 2019. They are registered properties rather than designated ones. The buildings range from the end of the Edo period through the Meiji and late Taisho periods to 1927.

The 11 are the shop and main house, the reception wing, the annex, the inner storehouse, the outer wall, and six storehouses: the miso store, the east, south-east corner, south, south-west corner and west stores.

The city records that the Kuroda family, in the centre of Miki, is a merchant house that has run a hardware wholesale business for generations. The owner is the company Kuroda Seiemon Shoten.

A Great Saw Set on the Shop Roof as Its Sign

The goods traded are raised on the roof as the face of the shop.

The city records that the shop and main house faces the street to the north, that the front of its roof is dropped a step partway down so that, with the lean-to roof, the eaves show in three tiers, and that a great saw is set as a sign at the centre of the lean-to roof.

A great saw of this kind is a large saw for ripping big timbers lengthwise. A lean-to roof is a lower roof projecting below the main one.

The front roof is stepped down, and with the lean-to the eaves stand in three tiers. At the centre of the lean-to sits a saw, the sign of a hardware wholesaler.

At Obaraya Harada Shoten, stores are named for the goods traded, oil and salt.

Here the very shape of a thing traded is set on the roof as a sign.

Six Storehouses Along the Edge of the Plot

The back of the property is enclosed by a line of stores.

The city records, at the back of the plot, a miso store joined to the east end of the main house's south side, an east store 10.9 metres long, a store at the south-east corner, a south store 9.0 metres long, a large store at the south-west corner, and a west store 18.3 metres long, standing in a continuous line along the plot boundary and holding goods, household effects and documents.

From east to south and south to west, six stores follow the edge of the plot. The two at the corners are named for their places.

At the Akagi residence, stores run one after another along the west side, each placed by its northern neighbour.

Here stores line three sides, east, south and west. What they hold is goods, household effects and documents.

The longest, the west store at 18.3 metres, is about 1.7 times the east store.

A Reception Wing Joined to the House at an Angle

The wing for receiving guests is attached to the main house on a slant.

The city records that the reception wing is attached at an angle to the south-west of the main house, and that its principal room, with alcove, shelves and writing bay, is a fine reception room of a merchant house.

The annex stands on the west side toward the north, a two-storeyed gabled reception building with a single-storey study to the south.

At the Ogiwara main house, the entrance part and the reception part meet at a right angle.

Here the reception wing meets the main house not at a right angle but at a slant. Guests are received in two places, the reception wing and the annex.

The city closes that the buildings of a hardware wholesaler, put in order from the early modern to the modern period, survive well here.

Visiting

The property is at lots 980 and 1121, 2-chome Honmachi, Miki City, Hyogo Prefecture, owned by the company. All 11 carry the same address.

The street front, the city records, is formed by three: the shop and main house, the inner storehouse and the outer wall.

The national online heritage database has no entry for these buildings. This article rests on the record of the city's history museum.

These are the buildings of a working company, so opening and terms follow the owner's arrangements. Check before travelling.

A hardware wholesaler buys saws, planes and other metal tools and supplies them to retail shops.