Uohashi Kimono Store

About the Uohashi Kimono Store

The Uohashi Kimono Store (魚橋呉服店, Uohashi Gofukuten) is a kimono merchant's premises on the old Nozato highway in Itokujimachi, Himeji City, Hyogo Prefecture, where a south main house of 1899, a combined shop and main house of 1925 and a storehouse behind each were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan in 2014.

Himeji City had already named the Uohashi Kimono Store its Important Building for the Urban Landscape No. 31 on October 24, 2005, nine years before the national listing. Across the street to the west stand the four registered buildings of the Uohashi Family Residence, listed on the same day as the store.

The Nozato Streetscape and the Uohashi Kimono Store

Nozato lies northeast of Himeji Castle, beyond the Nozato Gate that once let travelers out of the inner castle town to the north. The Japan Tourism Agency's interpretation text notes that it is thought to have existed as a metalworkers' quarter before Toyotomi Hideyoshi rebuilt the castle in 1581.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the shop and main house of the Uohashi Kimono Store as a large merchant building that conveys the streetscape of Nozato in its days of commerce and industry, and treats the south main house as its partner in forming the street's historic scene. Two wide frontages standing shoulder to shoulder are a reminder of the years when this road was at its busiest.

The Four Buildings of the Uohashi Kimono Store

The four buildings of the Uohashi Kimono Store became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on April 25, 2014, under numbers 28-0579 to 28-0582, each listed for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The national database gives these dates and sizes:

• South main house: 1899. Two-story timber building, tiled roof, building area 132 m²
• South storehouse: around 1899. Two-story earthen-walled storehouse, tiled roof, building area 23 m²
• Shop and main house: 1925. Two-story timber building, tiled roof, building area 147 m²
• North storehouse: around 1925. Two-story earthen-walled storehouse, tiled roof, building area 32 m²

The south pair dates from around 1899 and the north pair from around 1925, so a little over a quarter century separates them. A Meiji townhouse and a Taisho merchant building standing side by side on one property is what makes this site distinctive.

The national database splits the addresses: the shop and main house and the north storehouse at 51-1 Itokujimachi, the south main house and south storehouse at 50 Itokujimachi. Himeji City gives 51-1 for all four.

How the Uohashi Kimono Store Is Laid Out

The Uohashi Kimono Store fronts the Nozato road to the west, with the shop and main house on the north and the south main house on the south, wall to wall. The south main house has lower eaves than its neighbor, and that difference in height is the easiest way to tell the two apart from the street.

Behind each house, to the east, stands one storehouse. The north storehouse behind the shop is divided into two rooms; the south storehouse behind the south main house has a pickle store attached. A detached room is joined to the back of the south main house across a small courtyard garden, but it appears only in the national description of the south main house and is not listed as a separate building. Each registered building has its own page.

Visiting the Uohashi Kimono Store

The buildings of the Uohashi Kimono Store are privately owned. Neither Himeji City nor the Agency for Cultural Affairs lists open days or visitor arrangements for the interiors. From the Nozato road you can see the fronts of the shop and main house and the south main house; the two storehouses stand behind them and are largely hidden from the street. Please stay off the property and be mindful that people live here when taking photographs.

The nearest rail station is JR Himeji. The Uohashi Kimono Store is about 2.7 kilometers north-northeast of it in a straight line, around a 40-minute walk past the east side of Himeji Castle. Shinki Bus routes from the north exit also pass through Nozato; confirm the stop and timing on Shinki Bus's route search before you go.