Igarashi Shoten No. 3 Warehouse: 2.2 Square Metres on the National Register
The measurements come first, because they are the story. Frontage of 1.2 metres. Depth of 1.8 metres. Building area of 2.2 square metres. One storey, timber framed, standing just south of the No. 1 Warehouse in the rear yard of a merchant's plot in Hadano.
A single adult can stand inside and touch both side walls. It is smaller than most garden sheds, and it carries a national registration number.
The construction repays the attention its size does not invite. The roof is gabled, but no eaves project beyond the wall plane. Instead, mortar runs continuously from wall surface up and over the roof, encasing the whole box in one skin. Rainwater running down that skin has to be thrown clear somehow, and the solution appears on the front elevation alone: the gable wall is pushed forward slightly, forming a drip that keeps water off the doorway below. Inside, a single beam spans the space and receives the ridge purlin. That is the entire frame.
What Registration Is For
The No. 3 Warehouse was registered on 27 October 2017, in the 88th round of registrations, under number 14-247. Its category is Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), and the criterion cited is contribution to the historical landscape of the nation.
That criterion explains how a 2.2 square metre box qualifies. Registration, created in 1996, was never meant to isolate masterpieces. It is a lighter instrument than designation as an Important Cultural Property, applying to buildings over fifty years old, requiring owners to notify rather than seek permission before major exterior change, and offering tax relief and repair guidance in exchange. It was built to catch modern buildings in quantity, including buildings whose value lies in what they belong to rather than what they are.
This one belongs to a set. Igarashi Shoten dealt in aramono (household hardware), sundries and dried goods, and its 2017 registration covered the shop and main house together with four warehouse entries, five storehouses in all counting the No. 4 and No. 5 pair registered as one item. Hadano City's account of the property notes that the site retains three storehouses and an oil store, a configuration that preserves how a general merchant of the early Showa era organised a stock spanning many product lines. A building of 1.2 by 1.8 metres would have suited something kept apart from the rest.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs places construction in the early Showa era and brackets it between 1926 and 1934, the same range given for the No. 1 and No. 2 Warehouses. The No. 4 and No. 5 pair came later, in 1937.
The District, and What You Can Actually See
Hadano lies under the Tanzawa mountains, an hour or so from central Tokyo on the Odakyu Odawara Line, and its wealth came from tobacco leaf grown across the surrounding plain from the late Edo period into the early twentieth century. The Yotsukado crossing in the Honcho district was where that money did business.
On 1 September 1923 the Great Kanto Earthquake and the fires that followed took most of the district. Reconstruction widened the roads, and the shopkeepers rebuilding along them chose mortar-clad timber dressed in Western classical and Art Deco detailing, a visible promise that the next fire would find less to eat. The three-storey Igarashi shop at the front of this plot, with its fluted pilasters and carved capitals, is among the best-known of them.
The warehouses are private and closed. So is the yard.
The shop, however, has spent recent years as a small cafe on its ground floor, where the earth-floored selling space and the raised tatami counter area survive along with shelves of the hardware the family once sold. The upper floors serve as rented space and are reportedly shown when the occasion allows. Everything about that arrangement depends on a single proprietor, so treat the hours as provisional and check first.
Sitting there, the No. 3 Warehouse is worth holding in mind, out of sight at the back of the plot. National registers tend to collect the buildings a society is proud of. This one collected a mortar-sealed box the size of a wardrobe, because a merchant's yard is only legible when the small things in it are still there.
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Q&A
- Is it really only 2.2 square metres?
- Yes. The national record gives a frontage of 1.2 metres, a depth of 1.8 metres, and a building area of 2.2 square metres, timber framed and single storey. It is among the smallest structures on the national register.
- What was it used for?
- The national record describes the structure without assigning a function. Hadano City states that the site retains three storehouses and an oil store, which suggests the smallest building served a purpose requiring separation from the main stock, though the sources do not identify it explicitly.
- Why does the front gable stick out?
- The roof has no projecting eaves, and mortar wraps continuously from the walls over the roof. With no overhang to shed rain, the gable wall on the front is pushed forward to act as a drip and throw water clear of the entrance.
- Can I visit?
- Not the warehouse itself. It stands on private property and is not open. The ground floor of the shop and main house at the front of the plot has operated as a cafe, which is the one part of the property open to the public, subject to its own opening hours.
- Why is its address slightly different from the other warehouses?
- The national database lists the No. 3 Warehouse at 2687-1 Honcho 2-chome while the No. 1 and No. 2 Warehouses are given as 2687. The difference reflects land parcel numbering rather than any real separation; all of them stand on the same site.
Basic Information
| Name | Igarashi Shoten Daisango Soko (Igarashi Shoten No. 3 Warehouse) |
|---|---|
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Registration date | 27 October 2017 (88th round), registration no. 14-247 |
| Registration criterion | Contributing to the historical landscape of the nation |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Structure | Timber frame, single storey; building area 2.2 m²; frontage 1.2 m, depth 1.8 m; gabled roof without projecting eaves; mortar encasing walls and roof; front gable wall projected as a drip; single beam carrying the ridge purlin |
| Period | Early Showa (given as 1926 to 1934) |
| Type | Tertiary industry / building |
| Location | 2687-1 Honcho 2-chome, Hadano City, Kanagawa Prefecture |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public access | Not open. Stands in a private rear yard. The shop building at the front of the plot has operated as a cafe; confirm hours in advance |
| Access | About a 5 minute walk northeast of Hadano Station on the Odakyu Odawara Line |
References
- National Database of Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Igarashi Shoten No. 3 Warehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011908
- Cultural Heritage Online: Igarashi Shoten No. 3 Warehouse
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/289993
- Hadano City: Igarashi Shoten (registered cultural properties)
- https://www.city.hadano.kanagawa.jp/soshiki/4/1019/8/5/3/2/1891.html
- Cultural Heritage Online: Igarashi Shoten Shop and Main House
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/294810
Last verified: 2026.07.16