Manabe Family Residence: The Storehouse
Along the northern half of the eastern edge of the compound stands the storehouse, the building that held the wealth on which the whole estate ran. It is a two-story dozo, a thick-walled fireproof structure of earth and plaster, roofed in formal tiles under a gabled form. Where the main house speaks of status and the tea room of leisure, this building speaks of grain, and of the economy that made the others possible.
Built in 1905, the storehouse is divided into two functions. The northern part, six bays by three, served as the tool store; the southern part, five bays by two, was the rice store. Down the entire western face runs a lean-to roof, sheltering the working approach to the doors. The scale is considerable, a footprint of about 163 square meters, because a landholding family in Meiji Japan gathered rent in rice and needed somewhere secure and dry to keep it.
Why It Is Recognized
The storehouse was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 2 May 2017, under the criterion of contribution to the historic landscape. Its thick white walls and heavy tiled roof are part of the silhouette that the Manabe compound presents to the surrounding fields, and its survival helps explain how a rural estate of this period actually worked.
Much of the value here is documentary. The building preserves the two paired storage types of a working farm, rice and tools, under one roof, and its construction records the craft of the plasterers and carpenters who raised fireproof stores across the countryside. A large dozo like this was an investment in security: fire and damp were the constant enemies of stored grain, and the earthen walls were the answer to both.
What to Look For
The roof structure repays attention. Its frame uses inclined beams, the noboribari method, in which the beams rise with the slope of the roof rather than lying flat across the span. This lets a heavy tiled roof be carried over a wide interior without a forest of interior posts, keeping the storage floors open. It is a practical, confident piece of carpentry rather than a decorative one.
From outside, the building reads as a solid pale block set against the eastern boundary, its lean-to roof throwing a long shadow along the western side. The contrast between the massive storehouse and the lighter residential buildings nearby makes plain the division of a farm estate into places for living and places for holding the harvest. As part of a private residence, the storehouse is not open to visitors, but its bulk is visible above the compound walls.
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Q&A
- What was the storehouse used for?
- Its northern half was a tool store and its southern half a rice store. A landholding family collected rent in rice, and the storehouse kept that grain dry and secure.
- When was it built and how big is it?
- It was built in 1905, a two-story earthen-walled dozo with a footprint of about 163 square meters, roofed in formal tiles.
- What is the noboribari roof method?
- It is a framing method in which beams rise along the slope of the roof, allowing a heavy tiled roof to span a wide interior without many internal posts.
- Why build a storehouse with such thick walls?
- The earthen dozo walls protected stored grain and tools from fire and damp, the two greatest threats to a farm's reserves.
Basic Information
| Name | Manabe Family Residence, Storehouse (Manabe-ke Jutaku Dozo) |
|---|---|
| Location | 58-1 Aza-Miyanishi, Hayashi-cho, Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings), registered 2 May 2017; registration no. 37-0422 |
| Date | 1905 (Meiji 38) |
| Structure | Two-story earthen-walled storehouse (dozo), tiled roof; footprint approx. 163 m²; one building |
| Access | Privately owned; not regularly open to the public. Visible from beyond the compound walls. |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties — Manabe Family Residence, Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00011577
- Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in Kagawa — Kagawa Prefectural Board of Education
- https://www.pref.kagawa.lg.jp/kenkyoui/shogaigakushu/bunkazai/culturalassets/culturalassets_16.html
- Designated Cultural Properties (Buildings) — City of Takamatsu
- https://www.city.takamatsu.kagawa.jp/kurashi/kosodate/bunka/bunkazai/shiteibunkazai/kenzo/index.html
Last verified: 2026.07.11