The Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse
The Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse, in Aikawa Shingorocho in Sado City, Niigata Prefecture, is a single-storey timber building put up in 1954 and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2006.
It measures 10 metres along the ridge and 8 metres deep, with a floor area of 74 square metres. The gabled roof, a form called Kirizuma-zukuri, carries pantiles known as Sangawara-buki, and mortar covers the walls up to the underside of the eaves. There is no ornament, and of the three buildings on the site this is the smallest.
A corridor joins it to the office building on the east, and a door of iron bars connects it to the cell building on the south. The Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse sits between the staffed side of the institution and the rooms where people were held, and it is the elbow that gives the plan its L shape.
Why It Was Listed
The Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse was listed because it preserves, without embellishment, the service side of a detention facility. Its register number is 15-0205.
The roof frame is a Japanese-style Wagoya. Where the office building called for timber trusses to clear its span, the smaller span here was met with traditional carpentry. The corridor towards the office building is roofed by carrying the main slope down over it. Two approaches to the same problem stand a few metres apart on one site.
Meals, bathing, the storing of supplies. The work assigned to the Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse was the work that had to be done every day for as long as anyone was held here.
The Bath, the Cooking Area and the Stores
Inside the Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse the corridor divides the functions. Storerooms for food and supplies line its north side; the cooking area and the bath lie to the west.
The bath has an artificial stone finish, made by spreading a mix of cement, stone dust and aggregate and then grinding it smooth once it has set. It was a common choice for wet rooms at the time. In a building of timber and plaster, this corner alone feels hard and cold under the hand.
At the southern end stands the barred door through to the cell building. Picture meals leaving the cooking area and passing through that door and the position of the Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse explains itself: the kitchen next to the cells, the offices one corridor away.
Visiting the Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse
The Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse is reached by following the corridor out of the office building. Entry is free and nobody guides you. The bath and the cooking area sit on the route through, close enough to examine rather than glimpse through a doorway.
From outside, look at how the gabled roof meets the hipped roof of the office building. The line where the roof form changes marks the join between the two. No official guidance on photography has been published, so the World Heritage Division of Sado City at Kirarium Sado (0259-74-2215) is the place to ask.
Directions to the site and the handling of opening hours are set out on the page for the Former Aikawa Detention Branch. Few people come to Sado for this building alone, yet pausing here before passing through the barred door changes how the cell building reads.
Q&A
- Can I go inside the Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse, and is there a charge?
- You can, and entry is free. The corridor from the office building leads straight in. Opening hours and closed days are not published, so call the World Heritage Division of Sado City at Kirarium Sado (0259-74-2215) before visiting.
- What is inside the Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse?
- Storerooms for food and supplies run along the north side of the corridor, with the cooking area and the bath to the west. The bath has an artificial stone finish, the one surface in the building that is neither timber nor plaster.
- How does the Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse connect to the other buildings?
- A corridor links it to the office building on the east and a barred door to the cell building on the south. It is the corner of the L, and the three buildings run in a single chain through it.
- How big is the Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse?
- It is a single-storey timber building 10 metres along the ridge and 8 metres deep, with a floor area of 74 square metres. That makes it the smallest of the three buildings, under a gabled pantile roof.
- May I take photographs at the Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse?
- No official guidance on photography has been published. The bath in particular is dim, so if you plan to use a tripod, check first with the World Heritage Division of Sado City at Kirarium Sado (0259-74-2215).
Basic Information
| Name | Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 24 Aikawa Shingorocho, Sado City, Niigata Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2006 (Heisei 18) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 10 metres along the ridge, 8 metres deep, floor area 74 square metres |
| Owner | Sado City |
| Public Access | Interior open, free of charge, hours not published |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00005784
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Aikawa Detention Branch Kitchen and Storehouse
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/171092
- Sado City: Registered Tangible Cultural Property, Former Aikawa Detention Branch
- https://www.city.sado.niigata.jp/site/bunkazai/4959.html
- Sado Tourism Navi: Former Aikawa Detention Branch
- https://www.visitsado.com/spot/detail0101/
Last verified: 2026.09.14
