Hatta Family Residence Large Storehouse

The One Building Older Than Meiji

The Hatta Family Residence Large Storehouse (八田家住宅大土蔵, Hatta-ke Jūtaku Ōdozō) is a late Edo-period storehouse, dated between 1751 and 1829, on a merchant compound in Matsushiro, Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture; it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 26 December 2005. It stands east of the Hatta Main House and is the only one of the six registered structures that predates the Meiji era.

It measures 7 bays by 4 (Ketayuki by Harima): a two-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse with a gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pan tiles and a footprint of 74 square metres. The walls were finished in white plaster and then sheathed in iron plate.

All the openings are on the south gable, which serves as the front: double doors on the ground floor, a single-leaf window above, each with its own small projecting roof.

Why It Matters

The Hatta Family Residence Large Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape; the Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it helps form the row of storehouses behind a wealthy merchant's house.

Its age is what sets it apart. The Hatta compound was rebuilt after the great Matsushiro fire of 1892, and most of the registered buildings, the Main House among them, date from around 1897. If the Agency's late-Edo dating is right, this storehouse came through the fire. No published source explains why it survived, but that would fit what thick clay walls were built to do.

Despite the name, it is not the biggest by footprint; the single-storey Long Storehouse (132 square metres) covers more ground. What the Large Storehouse has is bulk, rising two floors behind the Main House.

What to Look For

The first surprise is the skin: iron plate rather than white plaster. The sheathing was probably added to protect the plaster from weather and wear, a treatment seen on old storehouses across Japan, though when it went on here is not recorded in any published source.

Notice, too, that every opening is gathered on the south gable. Door below, window above, both under little roofs, and the other three walls unbroken.

The compound's three storehouses each wear a different finish: white plaster on the smaller storehouse, bare clay on the Long Storehouse, iron on this one. The oldest of the three is also the one whose appearance has changed most.

Visiting

The Hatta Family Residence Large Storehouse stands at the back of the grounds, east of the Main House, and is hard to see from the street. The interior and grounds are not open to the public (checked September 2026).

The property is private. Plan on seeing the compound's street front from outside rather than this storehouse itself.