Kosaka Family Residence Miso Storehouse

What Is the Kosaka Family Residence Miso Storehouse?

The Kosaka Family Residence Miso Storehouse (小坂家住宅味噌蔵, Kosaka-ke Jūtaku Misogura) is a two-story earthen storehouse built in the early Meiji era (1868 to 1882) 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 stands at the southeast corner of the property with its ridge running east to west. At 33 m² it is the smallest storehouse on the homestead, and it was renovated in 2006. Miso, the fermented soybean paste at the heart of the Shinshu kitchen, was made at home and left to mature here.

Why It Was Registered

It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it forms a single imposing front together with the nagayamon gate.

A storage room on the east end of its north side connects to the southern end of the gatehouse. Standing on the east side of the property, you see the gate and the Kosaka Family Residence Miso Storehouse as one continuous facade. Its value lies less in the building alone than in its role as part of the homestead's public face.

What to Look For: Small Windows and Twin Eaves

The gabled roof is laid with pantiles. Small windows pierce three sides of the upper floor, and pent eaves shelter the east and west faces. The openings let air move through the interior, a sensible arrangement for a building where miso spent months fermenting.

The walls are left in their intermediate clay coat, with sasarako shitami boards on the lower part. Next to the white-plastered rear warehouse, the earth tone gives the Kosaka Family Residence Miso Storehouse a plainer, more rustic look.

The door is on the west end of the north face, under a lean-to, so the entrance opens toward the yard. The side facing the eastern road shows only wall and small windows.

Visiting the Kosaka Family Residence Miso Storehouse

The Kosaka Family Residence Miso Storehouse is on private property; the interior is closed and the grounds cannot be entered. Because it sits beside the gate on the east side, however, it is one of the easier buildings to see: from the road to the east you can take in the storehouse and gate together. Photograph from the road and avoid lingering at the gate.