Fujita Family Residence Storehouse

What Is the Fujita Family Residence Storehouse in Yokooji?

The Fujita Family Residence Storehouse (藤田家住宅土蔵, Fujita-ke Jūtaku Dozō) is a two-story storehouse of Dozo-zukuri construction built in 1876 on the Fujita family estate in Yokooji Kusatsu-cho, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, with a building area of 25 square meters, and it was entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 1998.

The Fujita Family Residence Storehouse is a compact building on the west side of the lot. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, this property once opened directly onto the Katsura River, so for a family of rice merchants this was the storehouse on the water side.

Kyoto has another registered "Fujita Family Residence Storehouse" in a Nishijin weaving family's garden in Kamigyo Ward. That one belongs to a different family.

Why It Was Registered

The Fujita Family Residence Storehouse was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 11, 1998, together with the main house (registration number 26-0033), for its contribution to the historic landscape of the country.

What the national record stresses is not the storehouse on its own but its part in a view. Seen from the river levee, the storehouse and the main house together present a traditional homestead. The main house provides the estate's face to the highway; the storehouse provides its face to the river.

According to the national record, the storehouse dates from the same year as the main house, 1876.

Highlights

Gable End and Front Canopy

The storehouse is built Tsumairi, with the triangular gable end facing front, and a small canopy over the entrance keeps rain off the door. Showing its gable, the little building looks taller than its footprint suggests.

Board-Clad Sides and Back

The side and rear walls are clad in vertical boards. Boarding over the earthen walls of a storehouse protects them from wind and rain, and it gives this one a practical, working look suited to a property by the river. It is quite unlike the gleaming white plaster storehouses of central Kyoto.

A Closed Box

Apart from the doorway there are only two small windows, and the national record describes the building as closed in character. The roof is framed with sloping Nobori-bari rafter beams. Few openings and broad expanses of wall give the exterior its tight, self-contained look.

Seeing the Storehouse

The Fujita Family Residence Storehouse stands inside a private property and its interior is not open. Only the exterior can be seen.

The view the national record has in mind is from the levee side, looking at the back of the estate, where the storehouse and the main house appear together. How much detail you can make out depends on trees and walls, but look for the vertical board cladding and the outline of the gable. This is the back of a family home, so please stay on public ground when looking or taking photographs.