Kosaka Family Residence Farm Equipment Storehouse

What Is the Kosaka Family Residence Farm Equipment Storehouse?

The Kosaka Family Residence Farm Equipment Storehouse (小坂家住宅農機具庫, Kosaka-ke Jūtaku Nōkiguko) is an earthen storehouse built in the late Meiji era (1898 to 1912) on the Kosaka homestead in the Murayama district of Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 5, 2019.

It occupies the northeast corner of the property, its ridge running east to west. The earthen storehouse is single-story with a partial upper floor and covers 46 m². It held the tools of a farming household. The rear gate adjoins it on the west, followed by the rear warehouse.

Why It Was Registered

It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a storehouse that gives the compound its distinctive character.

Two features set the Kosaka Family Residence Farm Equipment Storehouse apart from every other building on the property: the way its walls are finished, and the way its northeast corner is treated.

What to Look For: Sealed Eaves and a Cut Corner

The clay walls are carried all the way up into the underside of the eaves. Most storehouses on the property leave rafters and boards visible at the eaves; here the soffit is plastered over and almost no timber shows. It is the only building on the homestead finished this way. The lower wall is clad in sasarako shitami boards.

There are no windows on the north or east faces, and the northeast corner is chamfered off at an angle. The Agency for Cultural Affairs suggests this may have been to ward off kimon, the northeast direction long regarded in Japan as the unlucky gate through which misfortune enters. Houses across the country avoid openings or cut back corners on that side for the same reason.

The gabled roof is laid with pantiles. The door faces south, toward the inside of the compound, under an open lean-to on posts. The Kosaka Family Residence Farm Equipment Storehouse is closed to the outside and open to the yard.

Visiting the Kosaka Family Residence Farm Equipment Storehouse

The Kosaka Family Residence Farm Equipment Storehouse is on private land. The interior is closed and the grounds cannot be entered. Because it stands at the northeast corner, its windowless north and east walls and the cut corner face outward. Keep to what can be seen from the surrounding lanes and respect the owners' privacy when taking photographs.