A Regimental Supply Store That Outlived Its Army
The Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store (旧松本歩兵第五十連隊糧秣庫, Kyū-Matsumoto Hohei Dai-Gojū Rentai Ryōmatsuko), now the Shinshu University School of Medicine Archive Room, is a single-storey brick warehouse of about 1908 standing on the Matsumoto campus of Shinshu University in Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, and was placed on Japan's register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 13 August 2012.
Locally it goes by a shorter name: the red brick warehouse.
The word in the official title, ryōmatsu, is a compound worth unpacking. Ryō is food for soldiers. Matsu is fodder, the cut grass and grain that kept a regiment's horses moving. An infantry regiment of the late Meiji period ran on both, and this building was where both were stacked.
The 50th Infantry Regiment was raised in 1905, in the middle of the Russo-Japanese War, and took up garrison duty at Matsumoto in 1908. The warehouse is dated to around that year. Matsumoto acquired a second institution shortly afterwards: Matsumoto Higher School opened in 1919 as the ninth such school in the country. For the next quarter century the city held a garrison and an elite college at the same time, and residents lived alongside both soldiers and students.
Then the army was dissolved. Matsumoto Medical College moved onto the vacated regimental land, Shinshu University was founded in 1949, and the site passed to the new institution. Most of what the regiment had built was timber, and those buildings came down from the 1950s onward as new lecture halls went up. The brick store survived because brick is expensive to demolish and useful to keep. It held pharmaceuticals, then laboratories, and now carries the name Archive Room.
Brickwork, Arches and the Roof Above
Measured along its length the building runs 36.3 metres, with a span of 9.1 metres across, giving a footprint of 330 square metres recorded in the national database. Shinshu University's own account cites 331 square metres of floor area, which is the same building measured to a slightly different edge. Either figure describes a long, narrow, low volume under a gabled roof of sangawara pantiles.
The walls are laid in English bond, in Japanese igirisu-zumi. Courses alternate: one course showing only the long faces of the bricks, the next showing only the short ends. Look along the wall and you see the rhythm immediately, a striped effect produced by nothing except the way the bricks are turned. English bond was the standard for Meiji-period government and military construction in Japan, taught by British engineers in the 1870s and carried into military depots across the country. It is stronger than the alternatives and it is also, quietly, a mark of who built the thing.
Doorways open in four places, three on the north face and one on the west. Between them run the windows, and these are the detail most people photograph. Each is topped with a ketsuen arch, a segmental arch: an arc drawn from a circle but cut well short of a half circle, so the curve is shallow and wide rather than tall and round. Segmental arches suit brick because they need less height above the opening, which lets a wall carry more windows without growing taller. Along a 36-metre elevation the repetition sets up a steady beat.
The roof is carried on king post trusses. A king post truss is a triangle with a single vertical member dropped from the apex to the centre of the horizontal tie beam, with diagonal struts bracing outward from it. The arrangement clears the whole 9.1-metre span without a column touching the floor, which is exactly what a storehouse needs when sacks and barrels have to be stacked and moved.
Interiors changed repeatedly across a century of shifting use. The outside changed very little. That imbalance is the reason for registration, since the exterior still presents what a Meiji military depot looked like while the inside records what a university does with an inherited building.
Visiting the Campus, and the Building's Present Condition
Access is limited and the rules are specific. The Archive Room cannot be entered. Anyone wishing to view the exterior is asked to contact the Shinshu University School of Medicine general affairs section in advance on 0263-37-2572. This is a working campus, not a heritage site with a ticket office, and the request for prior notice is a real one rather than a formality.
Given that, the sensible approach is to fold the visit into a wider look at Matsumoto. The campus lies east of the city centre within walking distance of Matsumoto Castle, and the Matsumoto Higher School buildings on the old prefectural campus, preserved as a memorial museum, cover the other half of the story sketched above. Several further brick structures connected with the 50th Regiment remain on the Matsumoto campus, so the warehouse is not an isolated fragment.
Condition has been a live issue. By 2019 the roof was leaking and interior finishes had cracked, and the university marked its seventieth anniversary and the centenary of Matsumoto Higher School by forming a committee drawn from the faculties of humanities, medicine and engineering to work on repair and reuse. A crowdfunding campaign followed, along with a symposium on preserving and using the building, and its report has since been drawn on by student groups working in the space. In January 2025 an art installation was staged inside by a humanities seminar, which suggests the reuse discussion has moved past the paper stage.
Anyone planning a visit should check the current state of repairs directly, since scaffolding or a restricted approach would change what can be seen. The university's archives centre publishes updates and also issues a campus history map covering the surviving regimental structures, which is the most useful single document for anyone walking the site.
Come in winter if the choice is open. Bare trees, low sun raking across the north elevation, and the red of the brick against snow on the Northern Alps behind. The building was designed to be practical, not photogenic, and it looks best when nothing is softening it.
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Q&A
- Where is the Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store?
- At 3-696-1 Asahi, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture, inside the Matsumoto campus of Shinshu University, east of the city centre and within walking distance of Matsumoto Castle.
- Can the Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store be visited?
- The interior is closed. To view the exterior, contact the Shinshu University School of Medicine general affairs section in advance on 0263-37-2572. There is no ticket office and no set opening hours.
- What was the Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store used for?
- It stored provisions for the regiment: food for the soldiers and fodder for the horses. After the war it became a pharmaceutical store, then laboratory space, and now serves as the medical faculty's archive room.
- How big is the Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store?
- One single-storey brick building, 36.3 metres long by 9.1 metres across, with a building area of 330 square metres under a gabled pantile roof.
- What are the architectural features of the Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store?
- English bond brickwork, four doorways (three north, one west), a run of segmental arched windows, and king post roof trusses spanning the interior without intermediate columns.
- When was the Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store registered?
- On 13 August 2012, as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property under number 20-0423. The building itself dates to about 1908.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store (Shinshu University School of Medicine Archive Room) / 旧松本歩兵第五十連隊糧秣庫（信州大学医学部資料室） |
|---|---|
| Location | 3-696-1 Asahi, Matsumoto City, Nagano Prefecture (Shinshu University Matsumoto campus) |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), registration no. 20-0423 |
| Year Designated | Registered 13 August 2012 (Heisei 24) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Brick, single storey, tiled gabled roof; 36.3 m by 9.1 m, building area 330 m2 |
| Owner | Shinshu University (National University Corporation) |
| Public Access | Interior closed; exterior viewing by prior arrangement (0263-37-2572) |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00009276
- Cultural Heritage Online — Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/284079
- Shinshu University Archives Center — Exploring the University's Historic Buildings 2: The 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store
- https://www.shinshu-u.ac.jp/institution/library/archives/news/introduction/post-23.html
- Matsumoto City — Former Matsumoto 50th Infantry Regiment Provisions Store
- https://www.city.matsumoto.nagano.jp/soshiki/134/3777.html
Last verified: 2026.08.20