Matsumoto Family Residence North Compound Rice Storehouse and Barn

About the Matsumoto Family Residence North Compound Rice Storehouse and Barn

The Matsumoto Family Residence North Compound Rice Storehouse and Barn (松本家住宅北屋敷米蔵及び納屋, Matsumoto-ke Jūtaku Kita-yashiki Komegura oyobi Naya) is an early Showa period (1926 to 1945) clay-walled building running east to west along the north edge of the North Compound of the Matsumoto estate in Kodera, Koryo Town, Nara Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2017.

The Matsumoto Family Residence North Compound Rice Storehouse and Barn is 19.3 by 5.0 metres under a gabled pantile roof, single-storey with a two-storey section. Its building area, barn included, is 143 m², second only to the main house among the 13 buildings. It was renovated in 1992 and again in 2011.

Rice Store, Work Floor and Barn in a Row

From west to east, the building holds a board-floored rice store, an earth-floored work space and a board-floored barn. Only the eastern half has an upper floor.

Putting storage for rice, a floor for working and a barn for tools and materials in one long building suggests a sequence: sheaves carried in, processed on the earth floor, and the finished rice put away in the store. The raised board floor of the rice store would have kept ground damp away from the grain.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the building shows what the north plot was for. More clearly than any other, it marks the North Compound as the place for rice and farm work, set against the family home across the road.

A Deep Lean-to and a Japanese Roof Frame

A deep lean-to projects from the south side, facing the inner yard of the North Compound, giving a sheltered strip where work and loading could carry on in the rain.

The roof frame is a wagoya, the usual Japanese arrangement of short struts standing on beams, here spanning a 19.3-metre ridge.

The Matsumoto Family Residence North Compound Rice Storehouse and Barn was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.

Seeing the Matsumoto Family Residence North Compound Rice Storehouse and Barn

The Matsumoto Family Residence North Compound Rice Storehouse and Barn belongs to a private home and its interior is not open.

Set along the far, northern edge of the North Compound, it is probably visible from the road to the south only as a long tiled roof beyond the gatehouse. Its north side may be visible from a lane behind the estate, but the surroundings have not been checked on site. Please keep off private land. Directions are on the Matsumoto Family Residence (Koryo Town) page.