The service building at the back
The Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen (旧田村呉服店炊事場, Kyū Tamura Gofukuten Suijiba) is a Taishō-era timber building in the Hōjō district of Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 17, 2015. It stands north-east of the main house, east of the stock storehouse, a long thin single-storey block aligned north to south.
It runs just under 5 ken in length and a little over 1 ken across, is framed in timber under a Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles, and covers 18 square metres. The walls are Shinkabe, with the posts left exposed, and the earth between them was never taken beyond its rough undercoat. Parts of the cut-stone footing are built up higher than the rest.
Inside, three rooms sit in a line: from the south, the suijiba or cooking room, then the yokushitsu or bath, then the benjo or privy. Kitchen, bath and lavatory were gathered into one block and set apart from the house. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database records that the Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen was a separate structure from the outset. It was not split off later; it was built that way.
Keeping fire and water away from the house
A kitchen and a bath are where a household handles the most fire, water and smoke. For a merchant whose walls and stock were built around resisting fire, that concentration was a problem worth moving. Placing the Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen as an independent block to the north-east keeps an accidental fire away from the house and the storehouses, and it also carries cooking steam and soot away from rooms full of cloth.
The unfinished walls fit the same logic. Rough-coat earth is the base layer of a plastered wall, normally followed by a middle coat and a finish coat. Here the work stopped at the first stage. This was not a room where guests were received; it was where the family worked. How much care a building was given, and where that care stopped, is legible in the surface of the wall.
The registration criterion covers buildings that contribute to the historic character of the landscape. Three others 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 grain storehouse with its bathhouse on the eastern edge. Of those 4, the Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen is the plainest, and for that reason it says the most about how the household actually lived.
What to look at
Look at the footing. It is a continuous course of cut stone, with one stretch built up noticeably higher. Ground that slopes needs a footing of varying height to reach a level base, and rooms that use water are often lifted to keep the underfloor dry. Which of the two applies to the Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen cannot be settled from outside the building. What the uneven course does show is that the dimensions were set by conditions on site rather than by a drawing.
The proportions repay attention too. Just under 5 ken long against a little over 1 ken wide leaves room for one file of spaces and nothing else. Lining them up shortens every run of water, drainage and flue. From the cooking room at the south end to the privy at the north, the order is the order of use.
There is a second bath on the plot. The grain storehouse along the eastern boundary has a bathroom attached at its southern end, added in the early Shōwa period. Together with the yokushitsu inside the Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen, that makes 2 baths on one property, and no primary source explains how the household divided their use.
The record notes repairs made around 1955, roughly 30 years after the building went up. Kitchens and bathrooms absorb changes in daily habit faster than any other part of a house, so the timing is unsurprising.
Visiting the Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen
The Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen sits at the back of the plot and is closed to the public. The part of the compound that does open is the 1st-floor shop of the building on the street, run as the Hōjō Fureai-kan on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., free of charge. It is staffed by the local Hōjō Machizukuri Shinkōkai, and the telephone number is 080-6788-0693. Enquiries about seeing the kitchen should go there.
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 Kitchen?
- 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 Kitchen built and registered?
- It dates from the Taishō era (1912-1926) and was repaired around 1955. It was entered on the national register of tangible cultural properties on November 17, 2015.
- What is inside the Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen?
- Three rooms in a line: the cooking room at the south, then the bath, then the privy. The building is just under 5 ken long and a little over 1 ken wide, with exposed posts and walls left at their rough earth undercoat.
- Why is the Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen a separate building from the main house?
- It was built detached from the start. Keeping the cooking fire away from the house and the storehouses limited fire risk, and it also kept steam and soot away from the rooms where bolts of cloth were stored.
- How do you reach the Former Tamura Kimono Store Kitchen 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 Kitchen (旧田村呉服店炊事場) |
|---|---|
| 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 | Timber framed, single storey, tiled roof, footprint 18 square metres. Just under 5 ken by a little over 1 ken |
| 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 Suijiba
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010742
- 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