An 1904 Storehouse Built for Silk
Okujun Dozo (奥順土蔵, the Okujun Storehouse) is an earthen-walled two-storey storehouse in the Omachi district of Yuki City, Ibaraki Prefecture, completed in 1904 and registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 9 February 2005.
It stands behind the Okujun Misegura, to the north, at the deep end of the plot. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as five ken along the ridge by two and a half ken deep, its ridge running east to west, with a gabled roof of sangawara pantiles and a building area of 41 square metres. That makes it the smallest of the five registered Okujun buildings and, in plan, the most elongated.
Dozo-zukuri means thick walls of earth built up in layers over a timber frame and finished in lime plaster. The technique was developed for fire resistance, but the mass of earth does something else as well: it slows down every change in temperature and humidity that happens outside. For a merchant house whose stock was silk, that second property was the point.
Why a Silk Wholesaler Needs a Building Like This
Yuki-tsumugi is spun from mawata, floss silk drawn out from boiled cocoons into a soft sheet, then pulled into thread by hand without twist. Untwisted thread traps air, which is why the finished cloth is light and warm. It also means the fibre is more open, and more responsive to what surrounds it. Bolts of cloth held in stock for months are vulnerable to damp, to mould, and to swings in humidity.
The operator states that the storehouse still maintains conditions well suited to keeping tsumugi. That is a claim about thermal mass rather than machinery. Earth walls half a metre thick buffer the daily cycle almost completely and flatten the seasonal one, holding the interior within a narrower band than any lightweight structure could.
The weaving tradition these bolts belong to carries its own protection. Honba Yuki-tsumugi, meaning the genuine article produced in the Yuki region, was designated an Important Intangible Cultural Property in 1956 for three of its processes: hand-spinning the floss silk, hand-tying the kasuri resist patterns, and weaving on the jibata, a backstrap loom on which the warp tension is regulated through the weaver's own body. In November 2010 the technique was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The storehouse was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation, with registration number 08-0163, alongside three other Okujun buildings on the same day.
What the Walls Tell You
The exterior is finished in white lime plaster, and the detailing rewards a close look. The base of the wall is plastered out in a flared profile that Japanese builders call hakama-goshi, after the skirt-like trousers of the same name. The flare throws rainwater clear of the wall foot, which is the part of an earthen wall most likely to fail.
The upper storey of the north face departs from the plaster. There it is finished in oshibuchi shitami-ita, horizontal boarding held down by vertical battens. North faces take the worst of the winter weather on the Kanto plain, and boarding is easier to replace than plaster is to repair.
Toward the east end of the south face is the entrance, fitted with a pair of outward-opening doors that are themselves plastered. Storehouse doors of this type are built thick, hung on heavy pivots, and shut against a stepped rebate so that flame and smoke cannot find a straight path through the joint. Lean-to roofs extend from both the south and north faces.
Practical points for visitors. The storehouse is not open to the public. The operator asks that people refrain from entering the storehouse, the shop building and the detached room, all of which remain in commercial use. It can be glimpsed from within the compound, and photography of the exterior presents no problem. The rest of the site operates as Tsumugi no Yakata, the Yuki-tsumugi museum at Yuki 12-2, open free of charge from 10:00 to 16:00 on weekdays and 10:00 to 17:00 at weekends and public holidays, closed Tuesdays, Wednesdays and over the New Year. The archive room and the dyeing and weaving workshops charge admission. Yuki Station on the JR Mito Line is about ten minutes away on foot from the north exit, and there are twenty free parking spaces.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Ibaraki
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Okujun Storehouse
- [ Hitachi Seaside Park Nemophila Flower Tours ]
Q&A
- Is the Okujun Storehouse open to visitors?
- No. The operator asks that visitors refrain from entering the storehouse, the shop building and the detached room, since all three are still in commercial use. The exterior can be seen and photographed from within the Tsumugi no Yakata compound.
- When was the Okujun Storehouse built?
- In 1904, the 37th year of Meiji. Both the Agency for Cultural Affairs and Yuki City give that date. It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 9 February 2005 under registration number 08-0163, and gazetted on 28 February the same year.
- Why is the Okujun Storehouse built with earthen walls?
- Dozo-zukuri construction was developed for fire resistance in dense merchant districts, and the thick earth walls also stabilise interior temperature and humidity. Okujun states that the building still provides conditions suited to storing Yuki-tsumugi, whose untwisted floss-silk thread is sensitive to damp.
- What is the boarding on the north wall of the Okujun Storehouse?
- It is oshibuchi shitami-ita, horizontal weatherboarding secured by vertical battens, applied to the second storey of the north face. The rest of the exterior is white lime plaster, with the wall base flared out in a hakama-goshi profile to shed rainwater.
- Where exactly is the Okujun Storehouse, and how do I get there?
- It stands north of the Okujun Misegura in the Omachi district of Yuki City, within the Okujun compound. Yuki Station on the JR Mito Line is roughly ten minutes on foot from the north exit; from Tokyo, change at Oyama. Free parking for twenty vehicles is available on site.
Basic Information
| Name | Okujun Dozo, the Okujun Storehouse (奥順土蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 9-2 Omachi and 1336-2 Nishinomiyacho, Oaza Yuki, Yuki City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration number 08-0163 |
| Year Designated | Registered 9 February 2005, gazetted 28 February 2005 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Earthen-walled two-storey construction, pantile roof, building area 41 m². Five ken by two and a half ken, ridge running east to west |
| Owner | Okujun Co., Ltd. (no owner name published in the Agency's database) |
| Public Access | Exterior only. Entry to the building is not permitted |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database - Okujun Dozo
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004503
- Yuki City - Registered Tangible Cultural Properties: Okujun Co., Ltd.
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kosodate-kyouiku/shougaigakushuu/bunkazai/bunkazai/tourokuyuukei/page003228.html
- Tsumugi no Yakata - Storehouse
- https://www.yukitumugi.co.jp/guide/storehouse/
- Cultural Heritage Online - Yuki-tsumugi, Important Intangible Cultural Property
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/special_content/intangible/135182
- Tsumugi no Yakata - Access and opening hours
- https://www.yukitumugi.co.jp/access/
Last verified: 2026.08.04