Iida Family Residence Storage Shed 2

What Storage Shed 2 Is

The Iida Family Residence Storage Shed 2 (飯田家住宅物置二, Iida-ke Jūtaku Monooki Ni) is an early Showa-period single-storey timber shed in Toyoshina Takibe, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2005. It is the only one of the estate's 13 registered items dated to the Showa era.

It wraps the southwest corner of the lot. Starting south of storage shed 1, it runs south, turns a right angle, and heads east to meet the gatehouse. The two arms total 16 bays in length but only 1.5 bays in depth, with a building area of 87 square meters. Its registration number is 20-0246.

Long, narrow and bent into an L, it behaves less like a building than like a wall with a roof on it.

Why It Was Registered

Registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, the Iida Family Residence Storage Shed 2 links the line of the rice storehouse and storage shed 1 on the west edge with the gatehouse at the southwest, closing that corner of the estate with building rather than fence.

Its date matters too. The perimeter that began with the Edo-period main house was largely complete once the gatehouse and walls went up in late Meiji; this shed filled the last open corner. It marks the final stage in enclosing the compound.

What to Look For

The two sides could hardly be more different. The west and south walls, facing outward, are plastered okabe with the posts hidden, finished at the base in Shitami-itabari boarding. From the road they read as a solid white boundary.

Toward the inside of the lot, there is no wall at all: the Iida Family Residence Storage Shed 2 is left open between its posts, presumably so goods could be moved in and out easily. Closed to the outside and open to the inside, it sums up its job in its form.

The tiled Kirizuma-zukuri roof follows the narrow plan round the corner. Look at how the two roof runs meet at the bend.

Viewing Storage Shed 2

The Iida Family Residence Storage Shed 2 is within a private residence and cannot be entered.

What you can see from outside is the white-walled face on the west and south sides. The open side faces into the grounds and is hidden from the road. Photograph it only from the public road.

Access and viewing advice for the whole estate are on the Iida Family Residence page.