Okahashi Family Residence Pottery Storehouse

About the Okahashi Family Residence Pottery Storehouse

The Okahashi Family Residence Pottery Storehouse (岡橋家住宅瀬戸物蔵, Okahashi-ke Jūtaku Setomonogura) is a storehouse of around 1887 southwest of the main storehouse on the Okahashi estate in Ozukucho, Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 17 August 2020 (No. 29-0309).

Setomono originally meant ware from the kilns of Seto in Aichi Prefecture and later became the everyday word for ceramic tableware in general. Building a separate store just for dishes suggests a household that regularly served meals to large numbers of guests.

It is a 2-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse with a building area of 24 square metres, the second smallest of the seven Okahashi storehouses after the south rice storehouse at 22 square metres. It is also the oldest of them, some thirty years earlier than the main house of 1917.

Why the pottery storehouse was registered

The Okahashi Family Residence Pottery Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs draws attention to its decorative finish, especially around the east doorway.

The small Meiji storehouse remained in use after the main house and main storehouse went up in the Taisho years. For its size it carries a remarkable amount of plasterers' and carpenters' work, and it is arguably the most carefully finished of the seven.

It stands inside the estate, southwest of the main storehouse, and its decorated doorway faces into the grounds. The care went into how it looked from within the household, not how it looked to the street.

What to look for on the pottery storehouse

The roof is of the Okiyane type in Hongawarabuki tiling. The storehouse body is sealed under a thick earthen roof, and a separate timber-framed tiled roof sits above it: the lower roof resists fire, the upper one sheds rain. The soffit of the upper roof is plastered in the shape of rafters, so what is really plasterwork reads as a timber eave.

A water-shedding ledge (Mizukiri) runs along the base, and below it the wall is finished as Namako-kabe: flat tiles set into the wall with the joints built up in rounded ridges of white plaster, making a raised white grid. The windows have small bracketed hoods (Mochiokuri).

The showpiece is the east doorway. Its hood is roofed in copper sheet, the brackets supporting it are left as bare, unpainted wood to show the grain, and the edging is cut in a mokko outline, a rounded four-lobed shape familiar from family crests. None of it helps protect the dishes inside; it is there to be seen.

Visiting the pottery storehouse

The Okahashi Family Residence Pottery Storehouse stands inside the estate, southwest of the main storehouse, and its decorated east face looks into the grounds. It cannot be seen from the surrounding lanes, and the interior is not open.

No tours or opening days were offered at this private estate as of September 2026. Directions to the estate are on the Okahashi Family Residence page.