Okamoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse

What Is the Okamoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse?

The Okamoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse (岡本家住宅内蔵, Okamoto-ke Jūtaku Uchigura) is a 2-storey earthen-walled storehouse built in 1906 against the north side of the Annex of the Okamoto Family Residence in Yagicho 2-chome, Kashihara City, Nara Prefecture; it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 November 2016. It has a building area of 55 square meters.

An uchigura, or inner storehouse, is one built into the living quarters, as opposed to a sotogura standing out in the yard. The Okamoto Inner Storehouse sits deep in the house, beyond the main house, the corridor and the Annex, and its front faces south, where it meets the Annex.

Plastered Walls and a Heavy Tile Roof

The Inner Storehouse is built in the Dozo-zukuri manner, with thick earthen walls, and roofed in Hongawarabuki, the heavy system of alternating round and flat tiles more usually seen on temples and shrines. Using it on a town house storehouse marks the building out.

The outer walls are finished in Shikkui lime plaster, sealing the earth walls in white to protect the family's goods from fire. Set right behind the family's own room in the Annex, it was a storehouse that could be reached from inside the house.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it held the household's belongings and formed part of the home of a large Meiji-era merchant business. It was registered for contributing to the historic landscape.

Cypress Panelling and a Teak Staircase

The finest part of the Okamoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse is inside. The interior walls are lined with hinoki cypress boards, and a winding staircase of teak climbs to the upper floor. Turning as it rises, the stair links the two levels without taking up much of the storehouse floor.

Teak grows in South and Southeast Asia and is prized for being hard, stable and resistant to water and insects. Finding an imported timber like this in the stair of a storehouse in a late Meiji town house in Nara shows how much care the family put into the building. The Agency itself describes the interior as finished to a high standard.

White plaster outside, cypress and teak within: a hard shell built against fire, and a carefully fitted room for the family's possessions.

Visiting the Okamoto Inner Storehouse

The Okamoto Family Residence Inner Storehouse is part of a private home and is not open to the public. No occasions to see the cypress panelling or the teak staircase could be found.

It stands inside the plot, north of the Annex, and cannot be seen from the Shimotsumichi road. The layout of the site and directions are on the Okamoto Family Residence page.