Okahashi Family Residence East Rice Storehouse

About the Okahashi Family Residence East Rice Storehouse

The Okahashi Family Residence East Rice Storehouse (岡橋家住宅東米蔵, Okahashi-ke Jūtaku Higashi-komegura) is a rice storehouse of 1919 on the southern part of the east side of the Okahashi estate in Ozukucho, Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 17 August 2020 (No. 29-0310).

It is a single-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse with a Sangawara-buki pantiled roof and a building area of 70 square metres. The estate has three rice storehouses, east, south and north, and this is the second largest after the north one.

It faces west. Its door opens into the estate, and it turns its back to the lane on the east.

Why the east rice storehouse was registered

The Okahashi Family Residence East Rice Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it shapes the streetscape of the lane along the east side of the estate.

For anyone outside, that back wall is the front. The east face of the storehouse is part of the estate's perimeter and forms, with the east gate and the earthen wall, the frontage onto the lane. A building used from inside the estate doubles as a wall of the village street, and that double role is the core of its value.

The Okahashi were hereditary headmen of the former Masuga village and leased much of their farmland to tenants. The three rice storehouses probably held rice paid in from that land, though no record has been found of what each one held.

What to look for on the east rice storehouse

The walls are plastered in Shikkui right up into the eaves, with a thickened band (Hachimaki) under them and a water-shedding ledge (Mizukiri) near the base. No timber shows on the outside, a finish meant to resist fire.

Vertical boarding (Tateita-bari) covers the lower wall on the east side only. Only the face toward the lane gets this protection, which suggests it was there to shield the plaster from the wear of passing people and carts.

The windows have small hoods on brackets (Mochiokuri). Inside, the floor is bare earth, the walls are fully plastered in the Ōkabe manner with a mid-coat finish, and the roof uses a traditional Wagoya frame. The earth floor sets it apart from the north rice storehouse, which is boarded.

Visiting the east rice storehouse

The Okahashi Family Residence East Rice Storehouse stands on the lane along the east side of the estate, and its boarded east face can be seen from there. The west side with the door faces into the grounds, and the interior is not open.

The lane is narrow and used by residents, so take care not to block it when stopping or taking photographs. Directions to the estate are on the Okahashi Family Residence page.