A Storehouse with Carved Window Canopies
The Ebiki Bunko Storehouse (海老喜文庫蔵) is a storehouse with elaborate window canopies of the late Edo period in Toyomamachi Teraike, Tome City, Miyagi Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on May 10, 2018 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
The Agency records a two-storey plastered storehouse with a tiled roof and a building area of 39 square metres; registration number 04-0156.
Carved Canopies over the Windows
Ebiki is a merchant house of miso and soy-sauce brewers in the old castle town of Toyoma, with eight buildings on its site registered (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The bunko storehouse, of the late Edo period, faces east in the middle of the back of the site; it is gabled and tiled, entered from the gable end, with a lean-to and door on the east.
Its plastered walls have namako bases laid in a grid on the ground floor and diagonally on the upper floor. The windows have double canopies on two tiers of brackets set with pierced panels and carved corbels, an elaborate design (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Why It Was Registered
The Agency registered it as a model of design.
What to Look For
Look for the window canopies with pierced panels and the namako walls with different patterns above and below (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Visiting
The owner is not listed in the Agency record. According to the Ebiki website, the family business still makes and sells miso and soy sauce here. Ebiki and Tome City give the opening hours of the Kura no Shiryokan museum in the former sake brewery as 9:00 to 17:00, with admission of 200 yen; the former soy-sauce store (Ebiki Hall) is used for group meals by reservation only, and no other building is open inside. The eight buildings are introduced together on the Ebiki page.
Q&A
- When was it built?
- In the late Edo period (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
- What are the namako walls like?
- Grid below, diagonal above.
- What about the windows?
- Carved double canopies.
- Where is it?
- At the back of the site.
- When was the Ebiki Bunko Storehouse registered?
- On May 10, 2018 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Basic Information
| Name | Ebiki Bunko Storehouse (海老喜文庫蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 22 Toyomamachi Teraike, Tome City, Miyagi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2018/05/10 (Heisei 30) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Two-storey plastered storehouse, tiled roof, 39 m² |
| Owner | Not listed in the Agency database |
| Public Access | No official information on access |
References
- Ebiki Bunko Storehouse (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012276
- Kura no Shiryokan (Ebiki, in Japanese)
- https://ebiki.com/?mode=f3
- Historic sights (Tome City, in Japanese)
- https://www.city.tome.miyagi.jp/kanko/tourism/see/rekishi/index.html
Last verified: 2026.10.28
