Tanaka Honke Museum Okaru Nikai

What the Tanaka Honke Museum Okaru Nikai Is

The Tanaka Honke Museum Okaru Nikai (田中本家博物館おかる二階) is an early Meiji-period two-storey building in fire-resistant storehouse construction behind the kitchen of the Tanaka merchant house in Suzaka City, Nagano Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 19 September 2003.

It projects eastward from the back of the kitchen wing of the Former Main House, like a wing turned at right angles. The roof is a gable on an east-west ridge, laid with pantiles, and broad lean-to eaves run along the east and north sides. The building area is 80 square metres.

"Nikai" means an upper floor. No source explains the "Okaru" part of the name, so it is best read simply as what the household called the building.

Why the Okaru Nikai Was Registered

The Tanaka Honke Museum Okaru Nikai was registered as serving as a model of design. From outside it reads as a thick-walled storehouse, yet the upper floor holds a well-finished reception room. The Agency for Cultural Affairs draws attention to that pairing: the fire protection of a kura and the dignity of a room fit for guests, stacked in one small building.

It also shows Western influence arriving in Suzaka in the early Meiji years. The long horizontal windows on the east face of the upper floor, and the metal brackets that carry the eaves, are not features of a traditional storehouse.

What to Look For: The East Face

Go round to the east side. The upper windows are wide and low rather than the small square openings usual in a kura, a way of bringing light into the room without giving up the thick walls.

Below them, the lean-to eave rests on metal brackets instead of timber arms. Stand close and look up at the underside; the ironwork is the clearest sign of the new taste.

A second broad eave on the north side covers the junction with the kitchen. Working space below, formal room above: the Okaru Nikai splits the household vertically in a way the single-storey kitchen could not.

Visiting the Okaru Nikai

The Okaru Nikai sits inside the estate behind the main house, so it cannot be seen from the street. Once inside, walk round to the east of the Former Main House to see it projecting from the kitchen.

Whether the upper room is open varies with the season, so ask at reception if you want to see inside. Opening hours and admission for the whole estate are on the Tanaka Honke Museum page.