Suenobu Family Residence (Former Suenobudo Clinic) Storehouse

What Is the Suenobu Family Residence Storehouse?

The Suenobu Family Residence (Former Suenobudo Clinic) Storehouse is a two-story earthen-walled storehouse built in 1927 in Wajiki, Geisei Village, Kochi Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on October 14, 1999. Its Japanese name is 末延家住宅（旧末延堂医院）蔵 (Suenobu-ke Jūtaku, Kyū Suenobudō Iin, Kura). It is the smallest of the four registered buildings on the property.

The storehouse stands at the northwest corner of the lot with its ridge running east to west. It has a tiled gable roof and is entered from a long side, the arrangement known as Hirairi. The building area is 25 square meters, and the interior is a single undivided room.

Why It Was Registered

The Suenobu Family Residence Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs credits it with pulling together the northern face of the compound at its outer corner.

Behind the main house, the long single-story kamaya follows the northern boundary, and the storehouse occupies the northwest corner. Because the storehouse rises a full story higher than the kitchen wing, it gives the northern outline of the property a firm end point. Its value lies less in the building alone than in the part it plays in how the whole compound reads from outside.

What to Look For: Three Rows of Rain Tiles

The north wall of the Suenobu Family Residence (Former Suenobudo Clinic) Storehouse carries three tiers of Mizukiri-gawara, small tiled ledges that project from the plastered wall and throw rainwater clear of it. They are a familiar sight on storehouses in rainy Kochi Prefecture. In the Agency for Cultural Affairs' record photograph, the three tile lines cut clearly across the white wall.

The other thing to notice is how closed the building is. Its only opening on the north is a single small window on the upper floor. The wall is left almost entirely blank, and the horizontal tile lines are what give it character.

Set beside the kamaya, with its stepped roof and slatted windows, the contrast is neat: on the same north side, the building for daily life opens up and varies its outline, while the building that protects goods stays shut and draws only lines.

Visiting the Storehouse

The Suenobu Family Residence Storehouse is an outbuilding of a private home. The interior is closed and the grounds cannot be entered. The storehouse sits in the northwest corner, so from the east side facing the prefectural road it is hidden behind the main house and the gate.

The rain tiles are on the north face, but public sources do not say how much of that side can be seen today. Keep to public roads and do not enter private land. Directions to the property and details of the village's guided walks are on the Suenobu Family Residence group page.