Zorokuen Storeroom 1 and Servants' Quarters (Kitamae Ship Owner's Residence, Former Sakaya Choichiro Family Residence)

Where the staff lived

Zorokuen Storeroom 1 and Servants' Quarters is a single-storey timber building in Hashitatemachi, Kaga City, Ishikawa Prefecture, built in 1920 and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 17 February 1999.

It covers 37 square metres and includes 3.9 metres of attached wing wall. The building stands at the northern end of the eastern boundary, right against the road.

One building, two uses. The southern half is the servants' quarters, with an earth-floored working area and a living room, sheltered on the west by a lean-to eave. The northern half is a storeroom with an earth floor throughout, originally used for charcoal.

A record of the working household

The criterion was contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs adds that Zorokuen Storeroom 1 and Servants' Quarters is valuable for what it shows of daily life in the past.

Main houses and storehouses tend to survive. The hut where the staff slept and the shed where charcoal was kept are the first things pulled down once they stop being needed. Because this one survived, the labour behind a shipping household can still be read from the buildings. The lacquered rooms of the main house and the earth floor here are two ends of the same operation.

The lean-to and the wing wall

The interest lies in the plainness. On the west side of the quarters a Tsuchibisashi lean-to projects from the wall, leaving the ground beneath it unpaved. Work could go on there out of the rain. It is the same device used on farmhouses and townhouses across Japan, making half an interior with nothing but an eave.

On the road side, 3.9 metres of wing wall run out from the building. Wall and building together mark the property line, and the eastern edge of Zorokuen Storeroom 1 and Servants' Quarters is defined by that continuous run. The wall was included in the registration because what was valued was the boundary, not the shed alone.

Seeing the building

Zorokuen Storeroom 1 and Servants' Quarters stands against the road, so the exterior can be seen from the street, and walking the eastern side of the estate shows how the wing wall carries on from the building.

Whether the interior is open is not confirmed by any primary source. Ask in advance, along with the question of photography. Opening hours and the route from Kaga Onsen Station are on the Zorokuen estate page.