Hiramatsu Family Residence South Storehouse

A Clay-Walled Store on the Road Frontage

The Hiramatsu Family Residence South Storehouse (平松家住宅南土蔵, Hiramatsu-ke Jūtaku Minamidozō) is a two-storey earthen-walled storehouse of the late Edo period in Obuse, Nagano Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 October 2011. It is dated to between 1830 and 1868.

It stands on the road along the south edge of the plot, with the silkworm rearing house to the east and the kurumaya to the west. Measuring 7.6 by 4.0 metres, with a building area of 43 square metres, it is the larger of the 2 storehouses at the Hiramatsu Family Residence.

Like its northern counterpart it is built in the Dozo-zukuri manner, and its gabled roof (Kirizuma-zukuri) of pan tiles (Sangawara-buki) is a detached oki-yane set above the clay body.

Walls Stopped at the Clay Coat

The walls of the Hiramatsu Family Residence South Storehouse stop at the nakanuri, the intermediate coat. A Japanese storehouse wall is normally built up in coats of clay and then sealed with a final skin of white lime plaster; here that last coat was never applied, and the earth colour of the clay is the finished surface.

The contrast with the north storehouse, which has white plaster and a relief crest, is striking. Two stores of the same period were finished to very different standards. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the south storehouse as plain but carefully built.

A Doorway in Three Layers

Most of the effort on the Hiramatsu Family Residence South Storehouse went into its doorway. It opens on the north side, facing into the compound, under a small pent roof.

The opening is fitted with 3 doors: a clay-covered fire door (Tsuchido), a timber door and a lattice door. The fire door, as thick as the wall, could be shut to seal the store in a fire. The timber door served for everyday opening and closing, and the lattice door let air through while still closing off the entrance. Stacking 3 doors with different jobs allowed the building to be both fireproof and practical.

Plain walls and a painstaking doorway: that pairing sums up the character of the building.

Viewing the Hiramatsu Family Residence South Storehouse

Facing the south road, the Hiramatsu Family Residence South Storehouse is one of the easier buildings to see. What the road shows, though, is the south wall, the back of the store, together with its roof. The 3-layer doorway faces the other way, into the compound.

From the road, look at the earth tone of the clay walls and at the way the store lines up eave to eave with the kurumaya and the silkworm rearing house. The interior is closed, and the north side cannot be reached.

Directions and the general conditions for visiting are on the Hiramatsu Family Residence page.