Tatsumi Family Residence Barn

A Work Building by the East Wall

The Tatsumi Family Residence Barn (辰巳家住宅納屋, Tatsumi-ke Jūtaku Naya) is a clay-walled Dozo-zukuri work building constructed in 1915 in Hōryūji-nishi, Ikaruga Town, Nara Prefecture, and registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on April 24, 2001. It stands southeast of the main house of the Tatsumi estate, against the east wall, just north of the First Rice Storehouse.

It has a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) roof of Sangawara-buki pan tiles and a building area of 24 square meters. Its front faces west, and the eave that runs along the rice storehouses to the south continues across it.

A Barn Built Like a Storehouse

A naya is a utility building for farm tools and harvest work, firmly on the practical side of the household. Even so, the Tatsumi Family Residence Barn was built with thick clay walls, and the official description calls it well made for a work building.

The key is its neighbors. Its ridge sits a little lower than those of the rice storehouses, but its exterior was designed to match them, and the shared eave runs across all their fronts. Different uses, one continuous row.

That is why the barn was registered, as number 29-0053, under the criterion for contributing to the historic landscape. The official description names it as one of the buildings that shape the east face of the estate, and the charcoal shed's description says the same of the rice stores and barn together.

How Many Stories?

The Agency for Cultural Affairs database is not consistent about the Tatsumi Family Residence Barn. The structural data field records it as a single-story clay-walled building, while the descriptive text in the same entry calls it two-story.

The basic information below follows the structural field and notes the discrepancy. The remark that its ridge is lower than the rice stores could fit either a low two-story building or a single story with a loft. Confirmation from the database's maintainers is needed.

Visiting

The Tatsumi Family Residence Barn stands just inside the east wall. From outside on that side, you may be able to see its roof in line with those of the rice storehouses. The eave-covered west front faces the yard and is not visible.

The estate is a private home. As of September 2026 no public opening has been announced and the grounds are closed. Directions are on the Tatsumi Family Residence page.