A Storehouse Built Around Its Contents
The Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse is a two-storey plastered storehouse at 28-1 Okada Kaito in Chita, Aichi Prefecture, built around 1914 (Taisho 3) and entered on the national register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 28 June 2017 (Heisei 29). It stands at the western end of the compound, facing east, and was built to hold finished cotton goods.
The building measures 9.1 metres along its ridge and 5.4 metres across, with a floor area of 107 square metres over two levels. That makes it the largest of the two storehouses on the site. Construction is Dozo-zukuri, the thick-walled type developed in Japan to resist fire and to keep interior conditions steady, roofed Kirizuma-zukuri with clay pantiles.
Attached across the front is a Tomae, a covered forespace two Ken deep. This is not decoration. Bales moving in or out of a storehouse have to pause somewhere sheltered while doors are opened, counts are checked and loads are made up. The forespace is the room where that happened, and its depth is a measure of how much stock passed through.
The company that filled it, Nakashichi Momen, was founded in 1896 (Meiji 29) by associates of the Nakajima family after the family's long-running cotton wholesale business closed. Within two decades it was running three factories in Okada. The Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse is where the output of those looms waited for a buyer.
Why It Was Registered
The registration cites contribution to the historic landscape. Standing at the western edge of the grounds beside its northern neighbour, the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse forms half of a paired mass that reads from the street as a single long wall of plaster and board.
There is a second reason the building is worth protecting, and it is legible in the walls. Cotton cloth is vulnerable to damp, to insects and to light. A storehouse for cloth therefore has to be closed in a way that a storehouse for tools or rice does not. Thick earthen walls even out temperature and humidity swings. The absence of openings keeps sunlight off the stock.
Look at how few windows there are. The exterior is boarded up to the level of a horizontal band, and above that band the only openings are on the south face at the upper level. Everything else is closed. A building can tell you what it was for, and this one says cloth rather than grain.
Registration under the 1996 system protects the group as a working ensemble. The Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse was listed alongside the main house, the gate range, the wall, the workshop and dormitory and the north storehouse, which together preserve the full sequence of a cotton company's premises from office to store.
What to Look At
The interior is not open, but the structural logic is described in the national record and is worth knowing before you look at the outside. A single continuous post rises through both floors near the centre, set slightly toward the north. Above, the roof frame carries rafters seated on a heavy transverse beam. This arrangement leaves the floor area largely clear, which is what a store for stacked bales needs.
Outside, follow the horizontal band that runs around the building. Boarding covers the wall below it and protects the earthen construction from rain thrown up off the ground. Above it the plastered surface is exposed. On a grey day the two materials read almost as one; in low sun they separate sharply.
Then find the windows. There is one group only, on the upper level of the south face. Their placement makes sense once you know what the building held. South light is strong, so the openings sit high, and the north and east walls are left blank.
Step back to the lane and look at the forespace. Two Ken is roughly 3.6 metres, and that depth of covered ground in front of the doors changes the whole reading of the elevation, giving the storehouse a shaded threshold rather than a flat face.
Visiting
The Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse is privately owned and the interior is closed to visitors. The building can be seen from the public lane at the western side of the compound, at any time and without charge, and photography from the road is unrestricted. Please do not enter the grounds.
Part of the compound trades as Chita Momen Antenna Shop 478, which sells cloth and household goods made from Chita cotton and gives some sense of the material this storehouse once held. It opens 10:00 to 16:00, closed Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays; the telephone number is 0562-55-3239.
By rail, take the Meitetsu Tokoname Line to Asakura Station and a Chita Bus service to Daimon-mae, then walk about one minute. By road, the Nagaura interchange on the Nishi-Chita Sangyo Road is about five minutes away, and there is a visitors' car park for the Okada district.
Afternoon light works best here, since the east-facing front falls into shadow early. Two other registered cotton storehouses in the district, at the weaving workshops nearby, are open for hands-on weaving sessions, so a visitor who wants to see inside a building of this type has options within a short walk. Opening details were checked on 31 August 2026.
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Q&A
- What was the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse used for?
- It stored finished cotton goods. The thick earthen walls and the near absence of windows kept humidity steady and sunlight off the cloth, which is why the building is closed in a way a rice or tool store would not be.
- How big is the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse?
- It measures 9.1 metres by 5.4 metres, with a floor area of 107 square metres across two storeys. A covered forespace two ken deep runs across the front.
- Can you go inside the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse?
- No. It is private property and the interior is not open. The exterior is visible from the public lane on the western side of the site at any time, free of charge.
- What is the difference between the south storehouse and the north storehouse?
- The south storehouse is the larger of the two at 107 square metres against 78, while their depths are almost identical at 5.4 metres and 5.5 metres. Their forespaces run continuously into one another.
- When was the Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse registered?
- On 28 June 2017, as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in the buildings category, registration number 23-0496, for contributing to the historic landscape.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 28-1 Okada Kaito, Chita, Aichi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings) |
| Year Designated | 2017 (Heisei 29) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, 2 storeys, 9.1 metres by 5.4 metres, floor area 107 square metres |
| Owner | Not listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database |
| Public Access | Exterior viewing only; interior closed |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store South Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011726
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Former Nakashichi Cotton Main Store North Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011730
- City of Chita: Cultural Properties of Chita
- https://www.city.chita.lg.jp/docs/2020071000028/
- Chita City Tourism Association: The Old Streets of Okada
- https://chita-kanko.com/spot/detail/98/
- Chita City Tourism Association: Chita Momen Antenna Shop 478
- https://chita-kanko.com/spot/detail/87/
Last verified: 2026.08.31