A Log-Walled Vault Behind White Plaster
The Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse is a two-story storehouse built in the early Meiji era on the estate of a silkworm-egg producer in Kamishiojiri, Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 15, 2024. In Japanese it is 旧佐藤家住宅（藤本）文庫蔵, Kyū Satō-ke Jūtaku (Fujimoto) Bunkogura.
A bunkogura is where a household kept its papers and valuables. This one stands in the northwest corner of the lot, facing east, with a footprint of 20 square meters. It is dated to the early Meiji years, between 1868 and 1882, which places it, together with the neighboring Miso Storehouse, among the oldest of the six registered buildings.
The Sato family's head house, trading as Fujimoto, had been in the silkworm-egg business since the Kanbun era in the seventeenth century. A family that traded that long accumulated ledgers and correspondence, and this was the building that protected them.
Why It Was Registered
The storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out its unusual walls, calling it a storehouse of valuable construction.
Most Japanese earthen storehouses have a timber frame wrapped in a lattice of bamboo or lath and then plastered thickly with clay. The walls of the Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse are instead built of squared timbers stacked in interlocking courses, a technique called seirōgura. Because the outside is finished in Shikkui plaster, you would never guess from the street that there is a solid log wall underneath.
Stacking timbers to form the wall itself is labor-intensive, but it produces a thick, sturdy shell well suited to guarding documents. The local press, too, highlights this log construction as one of the reasons the building was registered.
What to Look For
The roof is gabled with the entrance on the gable end, in the Tsumairi manner, and tiled. It is an okiyane, a roof set on top of the storehouse body rather than built into it, leaving an air gap between the two. The gap keeps summer heat off the walls, and in a fire the roof can burn away while the storehouse body survives.
Each floor is a single wood-floored room, with a doorway and windows on the east and a staircase in the southeast corner. With every opening gathered on one side and the other three walls closed, it is a textbook storage building.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs database has an exterior view from the southeast and a photograph of the south side of the upper room, where something of the timber wall hidden behind the plaster can be made out.
Visiting the Document Storehouse
The Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse stands on private land owned by Fujimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd. and is not open to the public. Requests to visit must go to the owner, and we found no published guidance on photography.
Most of the family papers once kept in buildings like this are now held at the nearby Fujimoto Sericulture History Museum, which can be visited by prior arrangement with Fujimoto Kogyo. Part of the collection is also online through the Fujimoto Sangyo Digital Commons.
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Q&A
- Can you visit the Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse?
- No. It stands on private property and is not open to the public. Anyone hoping to see it should contact the owner, Fujimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd.
- When was the Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse built?
- It dates from the early Meiji era, between 1868 and 1882, and was registered on August 15, 2024.
- What is a seirogura, the construction of the Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse?
- It is a storehouse whose walls are made of squared timbers stacked in interlocking courses. Here the timbers are covered in plaster, so the building looks like an ordinary earthen storehouse from outside.
- What was kept in the Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse?
- Documents and household valuables. Most of the family's surviving papers are now held at the nearby Fujimoto Sericulture History Museum.
- How big is the Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse?
- It is a two-story building with a footprint of 20 square meters, with a gabled, tiled roof set on top of the storehouse body.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 91 Minamigawa, Kamishiojiri, Ueda, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2024/8/15 (Reiwa 6) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, 2 stories, tiled roof, building area 20 square meters |
| Owner | Fujimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (private property) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Former Sato Family Residence (Fujimoto) Document Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00015014
- Toshin Journal: Former Sato Family Residence registered as a national cultural property (Japanese)
- https://tjournal.co.jp/local/ueda/post-17134/
- Ueda City Tourism Association: Fujimoto Sericulture History Museum (Japanese)
- https://ueda-kanko.or.jp/spot/fujimotorekishikan/
Last verified: 2026.09.25
