Kuriyama Kimono Store and Residence

A Kimono Shop from Ishioka's Rebuilding

The Kuriyama Kimono Store and Residence (栗山呉服店店舗兼住宅) is a two-storey wooden shop-house built around 1932 in Kokufu, Ishioka City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on March 2, 2006. It combines a kimono shop with the family's living quarters.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a two-storey wooden building with a slate roof and a building area of 84 square metres; its registration number is 08-0202. According to the Agency, it faces north onto a street running at right angles to the old Mito Kaido highway and measures 9.1 m wide by 9.4 m deep.

Why It Was Registered

The Kuriyama Kimono Store and Residence was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs values it for preserving the townscape that took shape after the great fire of 1929.

Ishioka City lists the Kuriyama Kimono Store among the city's registered cultural properties, alongside others such as the Kisoba Tokyoan noodle shop and the Fukushimaya sugar shop.

What to Look For

According to the Agency, it is a shop building with its entrance on the long side and dashigeta eaves, in which beams project at second-floor level to carry deep overhanging eaves, giving the street front a solid presence.

The front is symmetrical, with wide openings flanked by shutter boxes at each end, while the gable walls are clad in battened clapboard (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Compare the balanced front with the plain board sides from the street.

Visiting the Kuriyama Kimono Store and Residence

The Kuriyama Kimono Store and Residence is a private building, and its exterior can be seen from the street. No official information on interior access or photography was found. The address is 3-4-25 Kokufu, Ishioka City.