Murao Family Residence North Storehouse

About the Murao Family Residence North Storehouse

The Murao Family Residence North Storehouse (村尾家住宅北土蔵, Murao-ke Jūtaku Kita Dozō) is a two-story earthen-walled storehouse built around 1897 in Nishiueta-chō, Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003.

It stands on the north side of the Murao main house. The building is a Dozo-zukuri storehouse with its ridge running east and west, a Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof in heavy Hongawarabuki tiling and a building area of only 16 square meters, the smallest of the six registered structures on the estate.

Why the Murao North Storehouse was registered

The Murao North Storehouse was registered as a model of design. The Agency for Cultural Affairs remarks on the careful workmanship visible all over this small building.

Its walls are plastered in white Shikkui, and the plaster is then protected by a skin of battened boards. On the upper floor, latticed windows open on both the east and west sides.

What to look for in the Murao North Storehouse

Look at the gable walls of the Murao Family Residence North Storehouse. The ends of the heavy jimune ridge beam are carried out through the gable walls, and the exposed end grain is wrapped in plaster to keep the weather off.

On the west gable that plaster is shaped further into a fan, worked as Kote-e relief in the manner of chigai-ōgi, a crest of crossed fans. A protective cap for a beam end has become an ornament.

The fan appears again at the front of the estate, where fan-shaped decorative stones are set into the Murao Family Residence Stone Wall. The same motif turns up in plaster at the back and in stone at the front.

Visiting the Murao Family Residence North Storehouse

The Murao Family Residence North Storehouse stands behind the main house, and we could not confirm whether it can be seen from outside. It is part of a private estate with no notice of interior opening, so please do not enter the property. Directions to the estate and notes on visiting are on the Murao Family Residence page.