Matsumoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse

About the Matsumoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse

The Matsumoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse (松本家住宅内蔵, Matsumoto-ke Jūtaku Uchigura) is a two-storey clay-walled storehouse of the early Showa period (1926 to 1945), joined to the north-west end of the main house of the Matsumoto estate in Kodera, Koryo Town, Nara Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2017.

It measures 4.9 by 3.9 metres under a traditional tiled roof, with a building area of 25 m² including a small one-storey timber part. Small as it is, the Matsumoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse is one of only two buildings on the estate, with the main house, registered as a model of design.

A Storehouse Reached from the House

The storehouse meets the main house through a kuramae, an anteroom in front of the storehouse door. Unlike the free-standing Tatsumi and utensil storehouses, it can be entered from inside the house, which suggests it held the valuables and goods the family used and guarded most closely. The name uchigura, inner storehouse, presumably reflects that position within the living quarters.

From its south-west corner a clay wall runs south to enclose the west and south sides of the plot, so this small building also anchors the corner of the estate.

Plaster Right up to the Rafters

The Matsumoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse stands on a stone base and is plastered all over in Shikkui; only the north face has wooden boarding along its lower part.

The roof is an Okiyane, a roof set over the storehouse body so that it can burn away without destroying the store beneath. Here, though, even the rafters and other roof timbers are sealed in plaster, adding a further layer of fire protection.

Windows open on the east side at ground level and on the east and south upstairs, each with a small plastered hood above it. It was renovated in 1982.

Seeing the Matsumoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse

The Matsumoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse is part of a private home and its interior is not open.

Attached to the back of the main house, it is probably visible from the road only as a tiled roof and the top of a white wall above the clay wall west of the front gate. Please do not look into the grounds. Directions are on the Matsumoto Family Residence (Koryo Town) page.