A grain store on a draper's plot
The Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse (旧田村呉服店穀蔵及び浴室, Kyū Tamura Gofukuten Kokugura oyobi Yokushitsu) is a Taishō-era grain store with an attached bath in the Hōjō district of Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 17, 2015. It runs along the eastern edge of the shop's plot, a narrow single-storey building 3 and a half ken long.
The fabric combines earthen storehouse walling with ordinary timber framing, under a tiled roof, and covers 23 square metres. The ridge runs north to south beneath a Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles, and the outer walls carry white Shikkui plaster. Inside there is no ceiling: the Wagoya roof frame is left in view. A door opens on the west face, a hooded window on the south gable, and the bath is attached at that southern end. The bath was added in the early Shōwa period (1926-1945).
The name holds two functions in one registration, storing grain and washing. The Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse is a record, in built form, of how the back of a merchant's plot was actually used.
Why a cloth merchant needed a grain store
Hōjō was the commercial centre of the Mount Tsukuba foothills, and it sat in the middle of rice country. A town merchant still had rice to keep: rent collected from tenant fields, the household's own supply, or grain taken in place of cash on an unpaid account. The storehouse half of the Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse was where it went. Grain asks for different things than cloth does. Where a stock storehouse wants stable, still air, a grain store wants movement and dryness, and leaving the space open to the underside of the roof reads as a decision made with that in mind.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs database describes the building as a plain facility in the rear part of a merchant compound and values it as evidence of how the household lived. It was registered under the criterion covering buildings that contribute to the historic character of the landscape. Three other buildings on the plot were registered on the same day, November 17, 2015: the shop storehouse and main house on the street, the stock storehouse behind it, and the kitchen to the north-east. Of those 4, the Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse stands furthest from the trade and closest to the domestic life of the family.
What to look at
Start with the colour of the walls. The Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse is finished in white plaster. The shop on the street and the stock storehouse behind it are both black. Black for the buildings on show, white for the grain store at the back: there is a hierarchy of effort here, and it becomes plainer the further into the plot you go.
The plan is unusually thin. Against a length of 3 and a half ken the width is slight, so the building reads as something stretched along the eastern boundary. Town plots in Hōjō are narrow at the street and deep behind it, and the outline of this storehouse simply follows the shape of the ground it stands on.
A window with a hood over it opens in the south gable. Cutting a window into a storehouse is a thing builders avoid, since every opening weakens the wall and lets in weather, but grain has to breathe. Roofing the opening and accepting the compromise tells you what this building was for.
The bath at the southern end came later. What complicates the story is that the kitchen building elsewhere on the plot also contains a bath in its plan. The household had 2 bathrooms at some point, and no primary source explains how they were used, alternately or by season, by family or by guests. The evidence stops there.
Visiting the Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse
The Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse stands at the back of the plot and is closed to the public. The one part of the compound that opens is the 1st-floor shop of the building on the street, which runs as the Hōjō Fureai-kan on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., free of charge. The local Hōjō Machizukuri Shinkōkai staffs it, and the telephone number is 080-6788-0693. Anyone with an interest in seeing the grain store should ask there first.
No published photography rule could be found. Ask whoever is minding the Fureai-kan before taking pictures on the plot.
By public transport, start at Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express and use the Tsukuba Center bus terminal. The Tsukuba Bus Hokubu Shuttle reaches Tsukuba Kōryū Center in about 40 minutes, leaving a walk of about 10 minutes. The Oda Shuttle stops at Hōjō Nakamachi, directly outside the plot, but takes close to an hour by a roundabout route. Published sources do not say if the property has parking.
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Q&A
- Can you go inside the Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse?
- No. It is closed. On the same plot, the 1st-floor shop of the street-facing building opens as the Hōjō Fureai-kan on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., free of charge. Enquiries go to 080-6788-0693.
- When was the Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse built and registered?
- The storehouse dates from the Taishō era (1912-1926) and the bath was added in the early Shōwa period (1926-1945). It was entered on the national register of tangible cultural properties on November 17, 2015.
- Why does a kimono shop have a grain storehouse?
- Hōjō sits in rice country at the foot of Mount Tsukuba, and town merchants kept rice as well as goods. The grain store was built for ventilation and dryness, unlike the stock storehouse that protected bolts of cloth.
- How big is the Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse?
- It is a single-storey building 3 and a half ken long with a footprint of 23 square metres, combining earthen storehouse walling and timber framing under a tiled roof. The walls are plastered white and the roof frame is exposed inside.
- How do you reach the Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse from the nearest station?
- From Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, take the Hokubu Shuttle from Tsukuba Center to Tsukuba Kōryū Center, about 40 minutes, then walk about 10 minutes. The Oda Shuttle stops outside the plot at Hōjō Nakamachi but takes nearly an hour.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Tamura Kimono Store Grain Storehouse and Bathhouse (旧田村呉服店穀蔵及び浴室) |
|---|---|
| Location | 39-1 Hinata, Hōjō, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on November 17, 2015 (Heisei 27) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Earthen storehouse walling and timber framing, single storey, tiled roof, footprint 23 square metres. 3 and a half ken long |
| Owner | Private (the Tamura family) |
| Public Access | Closed. On the same plot the 1st floor of the shop storehouse and main house opens as the Hōjō Fureai-kan on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., free of charge |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Database of Designated Cultural Properties: Kyu Tamura Gofukuten Kokugura oyobi Yokushitsu
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010741
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kyu Tamura Gofukuten Kokugura oyobi Yokushitsu
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/276806
- Tsukuba City: Protection of Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.tsukuba.lg.jp/soshikikarasagasu/kyoikukyokubunkazaika/gyomuannai/2/1/1001638.html
- Tsukuba City: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in Tsukuba (PDF)
- https://www.city.tsukuba.lg.jp/material/files/group/156/R8_tsukuba_tourokubunkazai.pdf
- Hojo Machizukuri Shinkokai: Highlights of Hojo
- https://tsukuba-hojo.jp/highlights/
- Hojo Machizukuri Shinkokai: Hojo Fureai-kan
- https://tsukuba-hojo.jp/town/
- Tsukuba City: Tsukuba Bus community bus guide
- https://www.city.tsukuba.lg.jp/soshikikarasagasu/toshikeikakubusogokotsuseisakuka/gyomuannai/2/1/1001471.html
Last verified: 2026.09.07