A Plastered Storehouse Dated to 1893
The Storehouse of the Former Koyama Family Residence (旧小山家住宅（田村屋螢庵）土蔵, Kyū Koyama-ke Jūtaku [Tamuraya Hotaruan] Dozō, also written Kyu-Koyama-ke Jutaku Dozo) is a plastered dozō storehouse built in 1893 at Mitsuno in Miyama-cho, Nantan City, Kyoto Prefecture, entered on Japan's national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 18 April 2008. It stands northwest of the main house, a single storey covering 23 square metres, measuring 6.7 metres along the ridge and 4.5 metres across.
Unlike the thatched main house beside it, this building carries a firm date. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the year as Meiji 26, which is 1893, while the main house is given only as early Meiji within a range of more than four decades. Storehouses were often built after the dwelling, once a household had the surplus and the reason to protect it, so the sequence is unremarkable in itself; the certainty is what makes the storehouse useful as a fixed point for the estate.
The ridge runs east to west. The roof is kirizuma, a simple gable, laid with sangawara pantiles, and on the west face a small canopy shelters the entrance. Walls are finished in white shikkui lime plaster, with vertical boarding applied to the lower portion as a protective skirt.
The Okiyane, and Why a Storehouse Is Built This Way
The technical term in the registration record is okiyane, literally a placed roof, and it explains most of what a visitor is looking at.
A dozō is not a timber building with plaster on it. Its walls are thick earth, built up in layers over a bamboo lattice and a timber frame, then sealed with lime plaster. The mass is the point: a wall of that construction resists fire, moderates the swing between day and night temperatures, and keeps out damp. Rice, seed, tools, textiles, family papers, and the lacquer and ceramics used for guests all lived in a storehouse rather than in the house.
But earth walls have a weakness. They shrink and settle as they dry, over years rather than months, and a roof structure tied rigidly into the top of the wall will crack as the wall moves. The okiyane solves this by separating the two. A secondary roof frame is set on top of the earth structure as a distinct assembly, free to be repaired or replaced without disturbing the walls, and shedding water clear of them. Look along the eaves and the join is often visible as a slight discontinuity between the plastered mass below and the tiled structure above. It is a detail invented for maintenance, and it is the reason so many storehouses outlive the houses they served.
The vertical boarding on the lower wall, koshi-tateita, follows the same logic. Plaster at ground level takes the worst of the splash and the knocks, and a boarded skirt can be swapped out cheaply when it fails.
What the Storehouse Contributes to the View
Registration in Japan proceeds under one of three criteria, and the storehouse was accepted under the second: kokudo no rekishiteki keikan ni kiyo shite iru mono, a structure contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The main house next to it was registered under a different criterion, as a model of its type. The distinction is worth reading carefully. The assessors were not calling this a specimen of ideal storehouse design. They were saying it earns its place through what it does to the scene.
Stand back on the lane and the reason becomes plain. The plot sits a step above the surrounding ground. The dark sweep of thatch belongs to the main house; the storehouse gives a smaller, brighter, harder-edged white block set at an angle to it, and a fence in cedar bark runs between them, wrapping the garden in front of the formal room. Three registered structures, one composition. Remove the storehouse and the estate reads as a large farmhouse. Keep it, and the whole thing reads as the seat of a family that once held rank.
That family, by tradition, served as ōshōya, the senior headman overseeing a group of villages. The house later took on an entirely different life as Tamuraya Hotaruan, the Miyama workshop of a Nishijin weaving house, named for the fireflies that come out along the water here in early summer. The estate is now run as a whole-house rental lodging under that same name, Hotaruan, and the registered owner is a private company.
Which means, practically: no admission, no opening hours, no walk-in visits. The storehouse is inside a private compound and cannot be approached; from the public lane, the white plastered volume and the tiled roof are visible above the fence line, and that is the extent of what a passing visitor sees. Photography from the road is fine. The neighbouring houses are lived in, and quiet is the courtesy owed.
Access is by car for most people, roughly 40 to 50 minutes from the Sonobe interchange on the Kyoto Jūkan Expressway. The JR San-in Line reaches Sonobe and Hiyoshi, from which Nantan City community buses run into Miyama a few times a day; the timetable needs checking before the trip rather than on arrival.
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Q&A
- Can I go inside the Former Koyama Family Residence Storehouse?
- No. It stands within a private compound that is operated as a whole-house rental lodging, with no public opening, no admission fee, and no walk-in access. The plastered walls and tiled roof can be glimpsed from the public lane.
- When was the Former Koyama Family Residence Storehouse built?
- In 1893, the twenty-sixth year of Meiji. That is a firm date in the Agency for Cultural Affairs record, in contrast to the adjacent main house, which is dated only to the early Meiji period between 1868 and 1911.
- What is the okiyane roof on the Former Koyama Family Residence Storehouse?
- An okiyane is a roof frame set on top of the earthen storehouse structure as a separate assembly rather than being tied into it. The separation lets the thick earth walls settle and lets the roof be repaired without disturbing them, and it keeps rain clear of the plaster.
- How big is the Former Koyama Family Residence Storehouse?
- It is a single-storey earthen storehouse of 23 square metres, 6.7 metres along the ridge and 4.5 metres across, with a tiled gable roof. The registered quantity is one building.
- Why was the Former Koyama Family Residence Storehouse registered as a Cultural Property?
- It was accepted under the criterion covering structures that contribute to the historic landscape. Together with the main house and the garden gate and fence, all registered the same day in 2008, it forms an estate composition standing on a raised plot.
- What was stored in a building like the Former Koyama Family Residence Storehouse?
- Rural storehouses of this kind held rice and seed, tools, textiles and clothing, family documents, and the tableware and furnishings brought out for guests. Thick earth walls gave protection against fire, damp, and temperature swings that a timber dwelling could not.
Basic Information
| Name | Storehouse, Former Koyama Family Residence (Tamuraya Hotaruan) / 旧小山家住宅（田村屋螢庵）土蔵 |
|---|---|
| Location | 38 Koyamanomoto, Mitsuno, Miyama-cho, Nantan City, Kyoto Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure); registration no. 26-0301, criterion: contributing to the historic landscape |
| Year Designated | Registered 18 April 2008; public notice 7 May 2008 (59th round) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey earthen storehouse, tiled roof, building area 23 m²; 6.7 m along the ridge by 4.5 m across |
| Owner | Nishio Asset Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not open to the public; within a private compound in use as a rental lodging |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Storehouse, Former Koyama Family Residence (Tamuraya Hotaruan)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007079
- Cultural Heritage Online: Storehouse, Former Koyama Family Residence (Tamuraya Hotaruan)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/144341
- Cultural Heritage Online: Main House, Former Koyama Family Residence (Tamuraya Hotaruan)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/191800
- Nantan City: List of Designated and Registered Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.nantan.kyoto.jp/www/life/112/013/000/index_71573.html
- Miyama FUTON & Breakfast (operator of the Hotaruan lodging)
- https://www.miyamafandb.com/
- Kyoto Miyama Navi: Accommodation in Miyama
- https://miyamanavi.com/stay/
Last verified: 2026.08.06