A Small Storehouse Built to Last on the Takano Family Grounds
Look at the northeastern corner of the Takano family compound in Mizusawa, and the first thing to catch your eye is a compact wooden storehouse facing west, its walls sheathed in iron plate. This is the Itakura, a plank-built storehouse dated to the late Meiji era, roughly between 1898 and 1912. It measures only about 22 square metres in floor area, yet it was put together with a care usually reserved for far larger buildings.
The Takano compound sits just south of the old Mizusawa fortress site, along a quiet lane called Ohatake-koji. Next door stands the former Takano residence, the boyhood home of the Edo-period scholar Takano Choei, which the state designated a Historic Site in 1933. The Itakura is one of four buildings on these grounds that the Agency for Cultural Affairs entered onto the national register in August 2024.
Why a Utilitarian Storehouse Earned National Registration
A storehouse is a working building, meant to keep grain, tools and household goods dry and safe. What lifts this one above the ordinary is the joinery. The side posts hold horizontal boards dropped into grooves, a technique called otoshikomi, and slender half-columns are set against the outer face so that the wall reads as a dense row of pillars. Below the sill on the west side, a pierced board cut in a mokko outline, a rounded lobed shape borrowed from old crests, adds a note of decoration to an otherwise plain exterior.
The registration cites the building for contributing to the historic character of the region. Inside there is a single plank-floored room. The roof frame uses paired beams carried on short standing posts, and those posts in turn support the ridge. It is honest carpentry, and it has held its shape for well over a century.
What to Notice When You Visit
Stand at the west face and trace the rhythm of the half-columns. The wall looks heavier and closer-set than a plain plank wall would, an effect the carpenters clearly intended. Then find the lobed openwork panel beneath the base sill, a small flourish that rewards anyone who slows down to look.
The Itakura is the oldest of the four registered buildings here, and reading the grounds from this corner gives a sense of how the compound grew in layers across the Meiji and Showa periods. The site is managed by the city of Oshu through its Samurai Residence Museum. The interiors are generally closed, with special openings tied to the Hidaka Himurusai fire festival and to the Golden Week holidays around early May; the exteriors can be seen from the lane.
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Q&A
- What exactly is an itakura?
- It is a storehouse whose walls are made of horizontal boards fitted between the posts. On this building the boards are dropped into grooves in the side posts, a method known as otoshikomi.
- How old is the building?
- It dates to the late Meiji era, roughly 1898 to 1912. It is the earliest of the four Takano buildings registered in 2024.
- Is it connected to Takano Choei?
- It stands on the same grounds as the former Takano residence, the designated Historic Site where Choei spent his boyhood, though the storehouse itself was built decades after his death in 1850.
- Can visitors go inside?
- The interiors are usually closed. The exterior is visible from the lane, and special openings are held during the local fire festival and the Golden Week period. Enquiries go through the Oshu City Samurai Residence Museum.
- Where is it?
- In the Ohatake-koji district of Mizusawa, Oshu City, Iwate Prefecture, about a ten-minute walk from Mizusawa Station.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Takano Family Residence Itakura |
|---|---|
| Location | Ohatake-koji, Mizusawa, Oshu City, Iwate Prefecture |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure); registered 15 August 2024 |
| Registration No. | 03-0123 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Date | Late Meiji era (c. 1898-1912) |
| Structure | Wooden, single storey, iron-plate roof; building area approx. 22 m2 |
| Owner | Oshu City |
| Access | Approx. 10 min on foot from Mizusawa Station; exterior viewable, interior generally closed |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00014994
- Cultural Heritage Online (Bunka Isan Online)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/593592
- Oshu City, Former Takano Choei Residence
- https://www.city.oshu.iwate.jp/samurai/bukejutaku/1724.html
Last verified: 2026.07.06