One Storehouse, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property since 1999
Yoshikawa Family Residence Storehouse (吉川家住宅土蔵, Kikkawa-ke Jutaku Dozo in the record's reading) stands at 195 Omachi, Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture, an Edo-period building entered on the register of tangible cultural properties on 23 August 1999. It is a registered property rather than a designated one.
The quantity is one building.
The structure is timber, two-storeyed, tiled, with a floor area of 161 square metres. The date field reads Edo and the year field 1841.
Dated by Its Ridge Tablet
A wooden tablet giving the year of building survives in the store.
The Agency records a gabled, pantiled store entered at the gable end, of two full storeys, standing behind the main house, whose date of building is known from its ridge tablet.
A ridge tablet is a board fixed to the ridge beam when a building is raised, giving the year and those who had a hand in it. Two full storeys means the upper floor covers as much as the lower.
At Manpukuji and the former Takahashi residence, ridge tablets give the date; at the Kojimaya storehouse, an inscription on a window grille gives the year.
Here the year field gives a single year, 1841. For the main house and the shop on the same property, the dates read about 1879 and about 1892.
Whether a ridge tablet survives changes how the year is given.
A Store for Sake in a House That Deals in Salmon
The family's trade at the time the store was built differs from its trade now.
The Agency records it as a store for sake from the time the family brewed it.
Of the main house on the same property, the record says it is the dwelling of merchants who process and sell salmon, and that its southern part is an earth-floored through passage used for that work.
A store from the brewing years remains within a property given over to salmon.
At Obaraya Harada Shoten, stores are named for what they hold, oil and salt. This one is named only storehouse, and gives no sign that it held sake.
The record says it is taken to have been a sake store, holding back from asserting.
A Large Store with Four Posts in Two Rows
Inside the store, posts stand in ranks.
The Agency records a large store with 4 posts within, in 2 rows.
Its floor area of 161 square metres is more than four times the shop's 37 square metres on the same property; the main house covers 315 square metres.
The Araso shopfront storehouse is strongly built with a single ridge post a foot square at its centre.
Here 4 posts in 2 rows carry the interior. The number and ranking of posts show the scale of the building.
The structure field reads timber and two-storeyed, while the commentary calls it an earthen store of two full storeys, as does its name.
Visiting
The store stands at 195 Omachi, Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture.
The Agency closes that it is a valuable survival from before the Meiji restoration in the old town of Murakami. The main house and shop on the same property are both said to be rebuildings after great fires, so this store alone predates them.
The main house was registered on the same day; the shop followed in 2003.
The family name is read Kikkawa. The Yoshikawa residence at Taketa in Oita is a different household's property, read differently.
No owner is recorded, and opening and terms follow the owner's arrangements. Check before travelling.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Niigata
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Yoshikawa Family Residence Storehouse
- [ Sado Island & Echigo-Yuzawa Ski Resort Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the storehouse registered?
- On 23 August 1999, as a registered tangible cultural property. It is registered rather than designated, and the quantity is one building.
- How is its date known?
- From its ridge tablet. The year field reads 1841.
- What was kept in it?
- It is taken to have been a store for sake from the time the family brewed. The household now processes and sells salmon.
- What is it like inside?
- A large store with four posts in two rows, gabled and pantiled, entered at the gable end, of two full storeys.
- How is the name read?
- Kikkawa. The Yoshikawa residence at Taketa in Oita belongs to a different household.
Basic Information
| Name | Yoshikawa Family Residence Storehouse (吉川家住宅土蔵); the record reads the name Kikkawa; the one at Murakami |
|---|---|
| Location | 195 Omachi, Murakami City, Niigata Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered tangible cultural property (structure, domestic architecture); registered rather than designated; the main house on the same property was registered the same day |
| Year Designated | 1999 (23 August), registered |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, 2-storeyed, tiled, with a floor area of 161 square metres. A gabled, pantiled store entered at the gable end, of 2 full storeys, standing behind the main house, with 4 posts within in 2 rows. Its date is known from the ridge tablet. The date field reads Edo and the year field 1841 |
| Owner | Not stated in the record |
| Public Access | Opening and terms follow the owner's arrangements |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online: the storehouse at Murakami
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/166562
- Cultural Heritage Online: the main house at Murakami
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/138521
- Cultural Heritage Online: the shop at Murakami
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/140351
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.24
