A Small Earthen-Walled Storehouse of the Late Edo Period
The Storehouse of the Nakano Family Residence (中野家住宅土蔵, Nakano-ke Jutaku Dozo, also written Dozō) is a late Edo-period dozo storehouse in the Choshi district of Nagaokakyo City, Kyoto Prefecture, built between 1830 and 1867 and entered on the national register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (登録有形文化財) on 10 September 2010. It stands on the eastern side of the plot, between the tea house and the wing of living rooms.
The dimensions are modest and almost square: 4.3 metres along the ridge, 4.5 metres across the beams, for a building area of 25 square metres. It rises two storeys in dozo construction and carries a gabled roof in sangawara pantile. The doorway is on the north face, with a kuramae, a small covered forespace, attached in front of it. The walls are finished in white lime plaster, and a single window is cut into the centre of the north wall at the upper level.
That is the whole description. The Agency for Cultural Affairs entry for the storehouse is shorter than those for the main house and the tea house, which is fitting for a building whose purpose was to hold things safely and be otherwise unremarkable.
What a Dozo Was For
A dozo is a storehouse built with thick earthen walls packed over a timber frame and sealed under lime plaster. The construction is heavy, slow and expensive, and it existed for one reason: fire. In a district of timber houses roofed with tile and separated by narrow lanes, the storehouse was where a household put what could not be replaced. Documents, ceremonial goods, seasonal furnishings, stock in trade. The Nakano family is thought to have dealt in sake and to have been a substantial shoya household of village headmen, though the city's own staff note that what business the family ran in the Edo period is not established with certainty.
Small storehouses like this one are vanishing faster than main houses. They have no residential use, they are expensive to maintain, they occupy land, and when a family sells or rebuilds the storehouse is the first thing to go. The registration of this one, alongside the main house and the tea house on 10 September 2010, treats it as part of a complete estate layout rather than an outbuilding.
The three registrations belong to the system introduced in 1996, which is distinct from designation as an Important Cultural Property. Registration exists for buildings that give a place its historical character and that owners keep using: alterations require notification rather than permission, and owners receive technical guidance and limited tax relief. The criterion applied to the storehouse, as to its neighbours, was contribution to the historic landscape of the nation. Its registration number is 26-0350, from the 68th round.
The Storehouse as Part of a View
The register's own note on the storehouse ends with an observation about landscape rather than structure: it preserves the estate layout of an old household well, and together with the tea house it forms a garden space of good quality. That is a clue about where to stand.
Sit in the reception room of the main house and look east across the garden. The white plastered mass of the storehouse and the lighter, more articulated form of the tea house appear side by side beyond the planting. The two buildings are separated by about a century, since the tea house was added in 1951, and joined physically at the plot's eastern edge. The composition is not an accident. When the ninth Kitamura Denbei planned the postwar renovation, the old storehouse was the fixed element he built the new tea room against, and the drawings that survive show him laying out garden routes with the pair in view.
Walk closer and the difference in surface becomes the interest. The tea house shows timber, paper and woven bamboo. The storehouse shows an unbroken plaster skin with one small opening high on the north wall. Two ways of using the same materials, standing four metres apart.
Coffee in the Storehouse
The storehouse is working again, in a way its builders would not have predicted. Nagaokakyo City took ownership when the Nakano family donated the property in 2014, and since August 2019 the general incorporated association Kurashi Lamp, which employs people with disabilities, has run the buildings as Nakanotei, a restaurant and coffee house. The coffee served in the main house is roasted on the premises, and the roasting machine sits in the storehouse. Green beans are hand-sorted. Visitors coming in from the street pass the earthen-floored entrance with its display of beans before reaching the rooms overlooking the garden.
Access is straightforward, with one caveat: this is a working restaurant, not a museum, and the storehouse interior is part of the operation. Ordinary customers are received in the main house. The tea house can be viewed for an additional 500 yen; access to the storehouse depends on what is happening that day, so ask when reserving. Service runs 11:30 to 15:00, last orders 14:00, and 18:00 to 22:00, last orders 21:00, closed Sundays and Mondays, with reservations expected for meals. Details are set by the operator and change, so confirm by telephone.
The site is a six to nine minute walk from Nishiyama-Tennozan Station on the Hankyu Kyoto Line, along the old Saigoku Kaido northeast of the Choshi-Hakkaku intersection where the highway once met the Tanba Kaido. Three free parking spaces sit in front, roughly five minutes from the Nagaokakyo interchange of the Kyoto Jukan Expressway. Look for the large cedar-branch ball at the eaves, hung in memory of the family's sake business, and the camphor tree across the road, more than a hundred years old.
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Q&A
- Can the Nakano Family Residence Storehouse be entered?
- The storehouse now holds the coffee roasting equipment of Nakanotei, the restaurant occupying the property, so it is in daily use rather than open as an exhibit. Whether you can look inside depends on the day's work; ask when you reserve. The tea house next to it can be viewed for 500 yen.
- How large is the Nakano Family Residence Storehouse?
- Small and nearly square: 4.3 metres along the ridge by 4.5 metres across the beams, giving a building area of 25 square metres over two storeys. For comparison, the main house on the same plot covers 194 square metres and the tea house 31.
- What is the dozo construction of the Nakano Family Residence Storehouse?
- Thick earthen walls packed over a timber frame and finished in lime plaster, built for fire resistance. Households used such storehouses for documents, valuables and trade stock in districts where fire spread easily. This one has its entrance on the north side with a small attached forespace called a kuramae.
- Why was the Nakano Family Residence Storehouse registered rather than designated?
- Registration, created in 1996, covers buildings that give a locality its historical character and that owners continue to use, under a notification rather than permission system. The storehouse was registered on 10 September 2010 under number 26-0350, with the main house and tea house, for contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. Designation as an Important Cultural Property is a separate and stricter status.
- Where is the best place to see the Nakano Family Residence Storehouse?
- From inside the main house, looking east across the garden. The register itself notes that the storehouse and the tea house together compose the garden space, and the reception rooms were arranged to take in that view. Changing seats changes the composition.
Basic Information
| Name | Nakano Family Residence Storehouse (中野家住宅土蔵 / なかのけじゅうたくどぞう) |
|---|---|
| Location | Choshi 1-31, 32, 33, 34 (merged), Nagaokakyo City, Kyoto Prefecture; present-day address of the operating premises: Choshi 1-6-35 |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property, Buildings (registration number 26-0350, 68th round; criterion: contribution to the historic landscape of the nation) |
| Year Designated | Registered 10 September 2010 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 4.3 m along the ridge by 4.5 m across the beams; building area 25 m²; two storeys of dozo construction, gabled roof in sangawara pantile |
| Owner | Nagaokakyo City (donated by the Nakano family in 2014); operated by the general incorporated association Kurashi Lamp |
| Public Access | Visible from the main house and garden; interior in use as the coffee roastery of Nakanotei, so interior access depends on operations; enquire when reserving |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Nakano Family Residence Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008306
- Cultural Heritage Online: Nakano Family Residence Storehouse
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/168728
- Kurashi Lamp Nakanotei: About the Nakano Family Residence
- https://nakanotei.com/about-nakanoke/
- SENSE NAGAOKAKYO (Nagaokakyo City): Touring Nakanotei with architects
- https://sense-nagaokakyo.city.nagaokakyo.lg.jp/posts/56445142/
- Hajimemashite Kyoto Nishiyama: Obanzai to Osake Nakanotei
- https://kyoto-nishiyama.jp/sweets/nakanotei/
Last verified: 2026.07.30