Tanaka Family Residence New Storehouse

A Household Storehouse at the Back of the Lot

The Tanaka Family Residence New Storehouse (田中家住宅新蔵, Tanaka-ke Jūtaku Shingura) is a storehouse for household goods built in 1912 behind and northwest of the main house of the Tanaka compound in Iitakacho Hase, Matsusaka City, Mie Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 2, 2018.

The storehouse proper is a 2-storey Dozo-zukuri block with a gabled roof running east to west. It faces south, and in front of it stands a single-storey timber reception room known as a kuramae zashiki. The roof is tiled, the building area is 51 square metres, and an extension was added around 1955.

A Storehouse with a Parlor

The Tanaka Family Residence New Storehouse pairs a fireproof store for family possessions with a finished room in front of it. The Agency for Cultural Affairs regards it as a survival of the traditional compound of an upper-class merchant family, and it was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.

Most of the Tanaka buildings date from the rebuilding that began around 1896; the new storehouse was added at the very start of the Taishō era, which is where the "new" in its name comes from.

Namako Tiles and a Sukiya Room

The walls are finished in white plaster, but the lower part changes from side to side. The south front has a skirt of Namako-kabe, square tiles set in raised white joints, while the east, west and north sides make do with plain clapboard. The expensive finish is kept for the face that visitors see.

The single-storey room in front is described by the Agency as finished in a refined sukiya manner, so the heavy walls of the store and the light timber room sit one behind the other.

Seeing the New Storehouse

Because the Tanaka Family Residence New Storehouse stands at the back of the lot behind the main house, it is probably hard to see from the road. The Tanaka Family Museum opens part of the residence by reservation, but it does not say whether the storehouse and its front room are included, so ask when you book.