Former Onogi Family Residence North Storehouse

About the Former Onogi Family Residence North Storehouse

The Former Onogi Family Residence North Storehouse (旧大野木家住宅北蔵, Kyū Ōnogi-ke Jūtaku Kitagura) is a 2-storey earthen-walled storehouse of about 1936 standing south of the west storehouse on the Onogi estate in Takehana Donomae-cho, Yamashina Ward, Kyoto City, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on July 25, 2011. Of the 7 registered structures given a specific year, it is the earliest (the middle gate and wall are dated only to the early Showa period).

The storehouse has a north-south ridge and a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. It measures 5.0 by 4.0 meters, with a building area of 20 square meters. It went up about 3 years before the main house was raised in 1939, so work on the estate seems to have begun with this building.

Why It Was Registered: An Iron Door in a Traditional Shell

The exterior of the Former Onogi Family Residence North Storehouse follows the pattern shared by all the storehouses here. The walls have Koshiita boarding at the base and lime plaster above, and a pantiled eave on the east side shelters the entrance, with a small hooded window above it.

What the Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out is the iron door fitted into this otherwise traditional design. Where the other storehouses hang plastered Kakegonuri doors, the Onogi north storehouse is closed with iron, an example of a different material combined with an old building type. The registration criterion is that the building contributes to the historic landscape of the country.

Highlights: Trowel-Finished Brackets

The eave over the east entrance of the Former Onogi Family Residence North Storehouse rests on Mochiokuri brackets projecting from the wall. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, these brackets are finished with the plasterer's trowel: the plaster was built up and shaped by hand, so even a working part of the building shows the craftsman's skill.

The east and west storehouses run east to west with doors facing south, but this building and the middle storehouse south of it turn their ridges north to south and face their doors east. By changing direction at the west side of the site, the two bend the line of storehouses into an L.

Despite its name, the north storehouse actually stands south of the west storehouse. The sources do not explain how it got its name.

Visiting the Former Onogi Family Residence North Storehouse

The Former Onogi Family Residence North Storehouse stands on the west side of the grounds. The wedding and restaurant business at the Former Onogi Family Residence ended at the end of September 2024, and the grounds are now closed, so the iron door and brackets on the east face cannot be seen up close.

The interior is not open. Access and viewing conditions for the whole estate are covered on the Former Onogi Family Residence page.