Tanaka Honke Museum New Storehouse

What the Tanaka Honke Museum New Storehouse Is

The Tanaka Honke Museum New Storehouse (田中本家博物館新土蔵, shin-dozo) is a late Edo-period two-storey clay-walled storehouse on the north edge of the Tanaka merchant estate in Suzaka City, Nagano Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 19 September 2003.

It stands east of the Miso Storehouse, about 14 metres long with a building area of 67 square metres, under a gabled roof on an east-west ridge laid in pantiles.

Despite the name, the Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the end of the Edo period, older than the Meiji buildings around it. "New" presumably survives from a time when it was the newer of two stores.

Why the New Storehouse Was Registered

The Tanaka Honke Museum New Storehouse was registered as contributing to the historic landscape. Its walls are plastered all round, with weatherboard skirting on both north and south faces, so it is finished on every side.

The Agency draws attention to the roof framing. Posts standing on the ridge line carry a thick, finished ridge beam, and from it thick boards are laid across to the purlins. The same method appears in the Archive Storehouse and others, evidence that the north row was built within one tradition.

A National Museum of Japanese History study cites a record that only one storehouse survived the Suzaka uprising fire of 1870, so the Edo date should be read alongside that account.

What to Look For: A Roof Lined with Boards

Outside, look at the weatherboard skirting on both long sides. The Miso Storehouse next door leaves its inward face as bare clay; the New Storehouse finishes even the side that faces into the estate.

Inside, the finished ridge beam and heavy boards do double duty: they carry the roof and form its underlay without ordinary rafters. Thick boards also resist fire better, which suits a storehouse. If you ever get a chance to go in, look up.

Visiting the New Storehouse

The Tanaka Honke Museum New Storehouse stands near the middle of the north row, and its south face is seen from the lane north of the inner wall. With the Miso Storehouse to the west and the Waterwheel Storehouse to the east, you can compare one storey, two storeys and a very long store side by side.

The interior is not normally open; ask at reception. Opening days and admission are on the Tanaka Honke Museum page.