Nakamura Family Residence Rear Storehouse

The Nakamura Family Residence Rear Storehouse

The Nakamura Family Residence Rear Storehouse (中村家住宅裏土蔵, Nakamura-ke Jūtaku Ura Dozō) in Misato Yutaka, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, is an earthen storehouse built at the end of the Edo period, between 1830 and 1867, moved to its present site in 1887, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 27, 2006.

It occupies the northwest corner of the Nakamura plot. The storehouse measures 4 ken by 2 and a half ken, with a building area of 42 square meters. It is a single-story Dozo-zukuri structure under a gabled pantile roof, and along its east side runs a tiled lean-to 1 ken deep.

Why it was registered

The Nakamura Family Residence Rear Storehouse was registered as a model of its building type. The northern half of the interior is a miso store, while the southern half holds the entrance. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that storehouses with a miso store built in are a common form in the Chūshin region of central Nagano.

Households made their own miso and left it to mature for a year or more. Setting that store inside a thick-walled storehouse, where temperatures change slowly, made good sense, and this building preserves the regional pattern clearly.

What to look for

The outer walls are finished with the intermediate clay coat, and the plaster is carried right up under the eaves. With the eave soffits sealed in clay, no rafters or other timber are left exposed to catch sparks. The front storehouse protects itself with a separate okiyane roof; the Nakamura Family Residence Rear Storehouse takes the other route and plasters everything into one sealed shell.

The lean-to on the east side gives a sheltered spot in front of the door for handling goods out of the rain. The daily business of bringing miso and grain in and out would most likely have happened under it.

The Agency's records do not say where the storehouse stood before it was moved. The year of the move, 1887, is also the year the barn was built near the northern edge of the plot.

Visiting

The Nakamura Family Residence Rear Storehouse belongs to a private home and sits at the back of the property. Its interior is not open, the grounds cannot be entered, and no viewing contact is published (checked September 2026).

The location of the homestead and general notes for visitors are on the Nakamura Family Residence (Azumino) page.