Moriyama Family Residence Storehouse

About the Moriyama Family Residence Storehouse

The Moriyama Family Residence Storehouse (森山家住宅土蔵, Moriyama-ke Jūtaku Dozō) is a storehouse built in 1904 in Kajiki-chō, Aira City, Kagoshima Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 25, 2002. It was the first of the three registered buildings on the Moriyama family's site to be listed.

The Moriyama storehouse is a two-storey building of stone and Dozo-zukuri earthen-walled construction under a tiled roof, with a footprint of 83 square meters. Built in the same year as the main house, it runs long and narrow from north to south, about 17 meters in Ketayuki length and about 5 meters in Harima depth. A tile at the end of the ridge carries Yama-ni, the trade name of the Moriyama family's second-son line.

A Stone Base Under White Walls

The Moriyama Family Residence Storehouse changes material partway up. Its lower walls are laid in stone, and on top of them posts stand every half ken to carry the earthen-walled upper storey. According to the Aira City Board of Education, most of the outer wall is white plaster rising from 7 courses of stone, a way of strengthening the walls by building them up in masonry.

The feature the Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out is how high the stone goes. A stone base is common enough on Japanese storehouses, but here the grey band is unusually deep and the white wall above it correspondingly shorter. Counting the courses of stone from outside is a simple way to see the difference.

Inside, a wall near the middle divides the building into a north room and a south room, each with an upper floor. There are 3 entrances on the west and south sides and windows at several points along the walls.

Cast-Iron Brackets and Why It Was Registered

The Moriyama Family Residence Storehouse was registered as a building that would be hard to reproduce. The small Hisashi canopies over its doors and windows rest on Mochiokuri, projecting brackets that the city's leaflet says were cast by the Moriyama family itself. Aira City describes them as fine work only a family of iron founders could have made, and notes that they are considered difficult to replicate.

Because the brackets are fixed to the outside walls, you can see them without a booking. Compare the curve of the iron under each canopy. They cast shadows across the line where stone meets plaster, so their shapes are easiest to follow when the sun is low.

Visiting the Moriyama Family Residence Storehouse

The exterior of the Moriyama Family Residence Storehouse can be seen at any time. The north room serves as an exhibition space, with iron kettles and other cast pieces handed down in the family, along with old documents. Going inside requires a booked tour led by a city staff member or a volunteer history guide. The city has not published a photography policy for the interior, so ask when you book. Booking details and directions are on the page for the Moriyama Family Residence as a whole.