Ninomiya Family No. 1 Rice Storehouse
Cross the road that runs along the north side of the Ninomiya estate in Seiro and you reach an open plot where a single long building lies on a north-south axis. This is the No. 1 Rice Storehouse, raised in 1875 (Meiji 8). Its frame measures seventeen and a half ken along the ridge, roughly 32 meters, and four and a half ken in depth, so the building covers about 267 square meters under one continuous roof.
The Ninomiya were no ordinary farmers. The family served as village headman of the district now called Hasuno, in the former Shibata domain, and were later granted the standing of a senior headman. Locals knew them as a thousand-hectare landlord, one of the great landowning houses of the Echigo plain. A granary on this scale was the practical face of that position: the rice gathered as rent from tenant fields had to be stored somewhere, and it was stored here.
Why It Is Registered
The storehouse was entered on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties in 2006 under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The walls explain the choice. They are built in the shinkabe manner, with the timber posts left visible, the lower zone faced in battened weatherboard, and the upper zone finished in white plaster. A clay-roofed pent, the dobisashi, runs the full length of the east face and shelters the working side of the building.
Plain agricultural buildings of this length rarely survive in good order. The No. 1 Rice Storehouse does, and it keeps the proportions a wealthy landowner's granary was meant to have, which is what gives it value as a record of rural economic history rather than as a piece of fine architecture.
Seeing the Storehouse
The Ninomiya family still live on the estate, so the buildings are not an open museum. The garden, called Seishoen, and the adjoining rose garden are opened to visitors for a short season each year, usually from late May into mid-June, and that is the window in which to see the grounds. From the road the long flank of the rice storehouse reads at a glance, its white upper plaster bright above the darker boarded base.
Stand at the south gable and look down the eaves line. The roof is an oki-yane, a separate cover set over the structural core, a method used so that the heavy load and any fire risk were kept apart from the walls below. Details like the battened boarding and the long clay pent reward a slow look more than a quick photograph.
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Questions and Answers
- How big is the rice storehouse?
- It runs about 32 meters along its length and covers roughly 267 square meters, a single-story timber building under one tiled roof. The scale matches the rent-rice that a thousand-hectare landowning house would have collected.
- When was it built?
- In 1875 (Meiji 8). The Ninomiya estate was rebuilt in stages after a fire that year, and the storehouses date from that rebuilding period.
- What does the white-and-dark wall mean?
- The lower band is battened weatherboard and the upper band is white lime plaster over an earthen core. The boarding protects the base from rain and snow splash, while the plaster guards against fire.
- Can I go inside?
- No. It is a working private estate. The garden and rose garden open for a short season, roughly late May to mid-June, and that is the time to visit the grounds.
- What is the 'oki-yane' roof?
- A separate roof set above the storehouse's fireproof body. Keeping the roof structurally apart from the walls was a common safeguard for granaries and vaults.
Basic Information
| Name | Ninomiya Family Residence, No. 1 Rice Storehouse (Ninomiya-ke Jutaku Ichigo Komegura) |
|---|---|
| Location | 1106-1 Hasuno, Seiro, Kitakanbara District, Niigata Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building); Registration No. 15-0252 |
| Registered | November 29, 2006 (gazetted December 19, 2006) |
| Date | 1875 (Meiji 8) |
| Structure | Single-story timber, tiled roof; building area approx. 267 m2; 1 unit |
| Dimensions | About 17.5 ken (approx. 32 m) along the ridge by 4.5 ken in depth |
| Owner | Ninomiya family (private residence) |
| Access | Private estate; garden Seishoen and rose garden open seasonally, roughly late May to mid-June |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005987
- Niigata Tourism Navigator: Ninomiya Garden Seishoen and Rose Garden
- https://niigata-kankou.or.jp/experience/11906
- Maipure (Shibata-Tainai-Seiro): History of the Ninomiya Family
- https://shibata-niigata.mypl.net/article/ninomiyaketeien_shibata-niigta/11615
Last verified: 2026.06.25