Sato Family Residence West Rice Storehouse

The Oldest Dated Building on the Estate

The Sato Family Residence West Rice Storehouse (佐藤家住宅西米蔵, Satō-ke Jūtaku Nishi-komegura) is a rice storehouse built in 1807 on the estate of a former village headman's family in Chohoji (Chōhōji), Nagaokakyo, Kyoto Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2008.

It stands on the northern edge of the lot, east of the New Storehouse, with its ridge running east to west. It is a single-storey kura of Dozo-zukuri construction on an almost square plan, 3.9 metres by 3.9 metres, with a building area of 15 square metres. Of the 9 registered structures, it is the oldest to carry a date given to the exact year.

Kyoto Tōbunkai, the association of registered-property owners, reports ink inscriptions dated to the Bunka and Kaei eras on timbers in the storehouses along the north side, and the Bunka era is the one in which this storehouse was built. A village headman handled the rice paid as tax, and this was the family's rice store, a building with a clear job to do.

Pantiles to the North, Round Tiles to the South

The Sato Family Residence West Rice Storehouse has a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof tiled two different ways. The north slope is laid with pantiles, while the south slope uses Hongawarabuki, the older system of flat tiles and half-round cover tiles. A pantiled lean-to roof projects below the south slope.

Hongawara roofing is heavier and deeper in profile than pantiles, which combine both functions in a single tile. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it gives the storehouse a weighty, solid presence.

The walls are finished in white Shikkui lime plaster, with vertical boards on the north face, which is the street side. The side facing the road is protected with plain boarding; the side facing into the estate carries the heavier tile roof and the lean-to. The same small building shows two different faces.

Why It Was Registered

The West Rice Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The East Rice Storehouse is built against its east end, and the Agency points to the stepped ridgelines of the two rice stores, together with the gable of the New Storehouse, as giving the estate a varied profile. A kura of 1807 still holds its place in that row alongside buildings a century younger.

Visiting

The Sato Family Residence is a private home that is not open to the public, and neither the interior of the storehouse nor the grounds can be visited.

The Agency's record places the north face of the West Rice Storehouse on the street side. If anything is visible from outside, it will be that boarded north wall and the pantiled north slope; the round-tiled south slope faces into the estate. Please look and photograph only from the public road.