Yoshida Sanso (Former Higashifushimi Family Residence) North Storehouse

The Northern of Two Storehouses

The Yoshida Sanso (Former Higashifushimi Family Residence) North Storehouse is a 2-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse of around 1932 in the northwest part of the Yoshida Sanso estate in Sakyo Ward, Kyoto, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 13, 2012. It held the household goods of the Higashifushimi family's Kyoto villa and stands in line with the South Storehouse.

Its ridge runs north to south. The building measures 5.9 meters by 3.9 meters, with a building area of 23 square meters, under a Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki tiles. The walls are white Shikkui, with a drip ledge running around them at wainscot height, and there is a window high on the north side of the upper floor.

The door is in the middle of the east side, and the corridor in front of it connects to the west side of the Main Building. You could walk from house to storehouse without going outdoors, and the South Storehouse is linked to the house by a passage off the same corridor.

Why It Was Registered, and How It Differs from Its Neighbor

The North Storehouse at Yoshida Sanso was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, as one of the service buildings that make up the private rear of the estate around the Main Building.

The North and South storehouses share the same form: 2 storeys, dozo-zukuri walls, gabled tile roofs. They differ in size and detail. The North Storehouse is 5.9 meters long, 1 meter longer than the 4.9 meters of the South Storehouse. Their upper windows face opposite ways, north here and south next door, as if the two buildings stood back to back.

The biggest difference is in the roof framing. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the North Storehouse uses rafter-beams (noboribari) laid along the slope of the roof, while the South Storehouse uses short struts (tsukadate) standing on horizontal beams. Sloping beams leave the middle of the attic free of posts and give more usable space upstairs; strut framing is the standard Wagoya method of Japanese carpentry. Two storehouses built side by side at the same time are framed in different ways, a difference invisible from outside.

What to Look For

The drip ledge is a small step projecting from the wall at wainscot height to throw rainwater clear of the lower wall. On the white plaster it reads as a single horizontal line dividing the building into upper and lower parts. The upper north window is best seen from the north side of the grounds.

The most interesting part of the North Storehouse, its sloping-beam roof frame, is inside and not open, so the Agency's description is your only guide. From outside, compare its length with the South Storehouse; the 1-meter difference shows clearly in the length of the ridge.

Visiting the North Storehouse

The Yoshida Sanso North Storehouse is not open inside. It stands in the northwest of the grounds, west of the Main Building, and is hard to see from the street in front of the Front Gate. To see the exterior, you need a reservation for a stay, a kaiseki meal or Cafe Shinkokan.

The storehouse may still be used by the ryokan, and access around it can be restricted. Ask the staff before approaching it or taking photographs.