A Storage Building With Silkworm Rooms Upstairs
The Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed is a two-story timber building put up in the late Edo period on the estate of a silkworm-egg producer in Kamishiojiri, Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, altered in late Meiji and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 24, 2021. In Japanese it is 佐藤家住宅（三ツ引）物置, Satō-ke Jūtaku (Mitsubiki) Monooki. The name means storage shed, but upstairs two wood-floored rooms for raising silkworms survive.
It stands southeast of the main house on the east edge of the lot, ridge running north to south, under a gabled tile roof with a raised ventilation roof, a koshi-yane, at the middle of the ridge. It covers 33 square meters and is dated to late Edo, between 1830 and 1868.
Why It Was Registered
The registration criterion is contribution to the historic landscape of the country, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs credits the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed with shaping the view along the east edge of the estate.
Ueda City lists it among the buildings renovated as the egg trade boomed between late Edo and Meiji. Its present arrangement, storage on an earth floor below and rearing rooms above, shows how a growing business reached into existing buildings for more space to raise silkworms.
The koshi-yane was most likely there to ventilate those upper rooms. Together with the long Silkworm Room at the south end and the room above the Disinfection Room, the upper floor of the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed made up part of the nine rearing rooms the estate eventually held.
What to Look For
Doorways open on both the east and the west sides. Most of the walls are plastered up under the eaves and finished at the middle coat, but on the west side the upper story is cantilevered out on projecting beams, a technique called degeta, and finished in white Shikkui lime plaster.
That west face looks inward, toward the main house. Leaving the outward-facing walls in plain middle-coat clay while dressing the inward-facing upper wall in white plaster reads as a choice about how the building looked from inside the compound.
Inside, the ground floor is a single earth-floored room and the upper floor two wood-floored rearing rooms. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database has a photograph of the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed taken from the west, showing the cantilevered upper wall.
Visiting the Storage Shed
The Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed stands on the east edge of a private estate and is not open to the public. As the Agency for Cultural Affairs notes, it forms part of the estate's outer edge, but we found no published guidance on visits or photography. If you look from outside, be considerate of the people who live here.
Directions to the estate and the story of the whole compound are on the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) page.
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Q&A
- Can you visit the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed?
- No. It stands inside a private estate and is not open to the public. It sits on the east edge of the lot, but there is no published guidance on visits or photography.
- Why does the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed have silkworm rooms?
- The ground floor is an earth-floored storage room, but the upper floor holds two wood-floored rooms for raising silkworms. Ueda City counts it among buildings renovated between late Edo and Meiji, when the growing egg trade needed more rearing space.
- When was the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed built?
- It dates from late Edo, between 1830 and 1868, and was altered in late Meiji. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on June 24, 2021.
- How big is the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed?
- It is a two-story timber building of 33 square meters under a gabled tile roof with a raised ventilation roof on the ridge. On the west side the upper story is cantilevered out and finished in lime plaster.
- Where on the estate is the Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed?
- It stands southeast of the main house along the east edge of the lot, ridge running north to south. The estate gate opens on the same side, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the building as shaping the view along the east edge.
Basic Information
| Name | Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed |
|---|---|
| Location | 90 Minamigawa, Kamishiojiri, Ueda City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2021/6/24 (Reiwa 3) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, 2 stories, tiled roof, building area 33 square meters |
| Owner | Private owner (name not published) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (private estate) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki) Storage Shed
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013790
- Cultural Properties of Ueda City (Ueda Citizens' ICT Promotion Center): Sato Family Residence (Mitsubiki)
- https://museum.umic.jp/bunkazai/document2/127.php
Last verified: 2026.09.26
