Northern Culture Museum Miso Storehouse

Home to Dozens of Miso Barrels

The Northern Culture Museum Miso Storehouse (北方文化博物館味噌蔵, Misogura) in Somi, Konan Ward, Niigata City, is a single-storey timber store of 1887, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 April 2000.

The Northern Culture Museum Miso Storehouse stands northeast of the main house. It is 28 metres long with a building area of 280 square metres, and according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs it once held several dozen barrels of miso (the museum's restaurant page says a dozen or more). It fed a household that employed around 60 servants.

Height Without a Second Floor

The Northern Culture Museum Miso Storehouse was registered as a building that would be difficult to reproduce. It is built in the Shinkabe manner, with sasara-ko weatherboard on the lower walls.

It is a single-storey gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) building, but the central body is raised high and flanked by lean-tos on both long sides, creating a broad interior. The agency singles out this arrangement.

It was a way of getting the floor area and height needed for rows of barrels without adding a storey. Built in the same year as the main house, it was part of the household fittings put in place with the mansion itself.

A Three-Part Section

From the gable end, the Northern Culture Museum Miso Storehouse shows a clear three-part section: the tall central body with a lean-to dropping away on each side. Together with its 28-metre length, it has a bulk unexpected in a single-storey building.

The battened weatherboard on the lower walls matches the finish of the estate's perimeter wall, so the outer edge and the working buildings at the back share one technique.

Visiting the Miso Storehouse

The agency notes that the Northern Culture Museum Miso Storehouse was given a wooden floor and used as a dining hall. The museum's restaurant page describes it, together with an adjoining building, as a dining hall for 120 serving set meals by reservation (six or more people, booked by the morning two days ahead), while its visitor services page lists the Misogura restaurant as suspended (both checked 17 September 2026).

If you plan to eat there, confirm with the museum on 025-385-2001. Whether you can go inside also depends on its current use, so ask at reception on the day, and keep photos and posts to personal use.