Ito Family Residence Three-Storied Storehouse

Three Storeys Facing the Road

The Ito Family Residence Three-Storied Storehouse in Ushita, Gosen City, Niigata Prefecture, is a Dozo-zukuri storehouse of 1902 that was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 12 July 2005.

It stands at the southern edge of the plot, hard against the road, measuring 6 ken (about 11 metres) along the ridge and 3 ken (about 5.5 metres) across, with a building area of 89 square metres. The Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof is laid in Sangawara-buki pantiles and carried on its own frame, separate from the walls below. A Geya, a lean-to, shelters the doorway on the north face.

Gosen City calls the Ito Family Residence Three-Storied Storehouse the emblematic building of the six. It is the first thing a visitor sees on the road through Ushita, and it serves as the face of the estate.

Why a Storehouse Went Up Three Storeys

Most storehouses of this construction stop at one or two storeys. Thick earthen walls built up higher press harder on the frame and the footings. The Ito Family Residence Three-Storied Storehouse answers that by setting the perimeter posts close together, which is what the Agency for Cultural Affairs means when it calls the work meticulous.

In the roof structure, the ends of the rafter couples are bolted to the beams. Metal fasteners were entering Japanese carpentry in the late Meiji era, and here traditional joinery and bolted connections share one roof. None of this is visible from outside; it survives in the listing record.

The listing criterion is contribution to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the building as massive in appearance and indispensable to the face the estate turns to the road.

Where the Wall Ends and the Roof Begins

The pleasure of this building from outside lies in the seam between wall and roof. A separate frame carries the roof, so it never rests directly on the earthen walls. A narrow gap opens between the top of the wall and the eaves, and retiling can be done without disturbing the plaster. Seen from the side, a tiled roof sits above a white box rather than growing out of it.

White wall climbing three storeys gives a strong vertical against the flat line of the road. Under snow the outline dissolves, white on white, and only the roof and the openings hold their edges.

Visiting the Three-Storied Storehouse

Of the six buildings, the Ito Family Residence Three-Storied Storehouse is the easiest to see. It meets the road at the southern boundary, so the gable end and both long walls can be studied from the public way. The barn stands next to it on the west.

The interior is closed and cannot be entered. Keep photography to exterior shots taken from the road. On a clear morning the light rakes the east wall and the modelling of the plaster reads well.