Northern Culture Museum Rice Storehouse

A Narrow Store in the Dairoan Compound

The Northern Culture Museum Rice Storehouse (北方文化博物館米蔵, Komegura) in Somi, Konan Ward, Niigata City, is a single-storey timber store of the early Showa era, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 April 2000.

The Northern Culture Museum Rice Storehouse stands on the west edge of the compound of the Dairoan, a house built for a branch of the family, and runs north to south as a long, narrow building of 88 square metres. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says it was used to store food and other provisions.

The east storehouse stands in the same compound. The Shukokan northwest of the main house was also once a rice store, but it is a different building.

Form Following Use

The Northern Culture Museum Rice Storehouse was registered as a building that would be difficult to reproduce. Its span is short, but long posts create a tall interior.

It has a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) pantile roof (Sangawara-buki) with a lean-to on the east side. The walls are Shinkabe, with thick horizontal boarding at the base and two single sliding doors.

The agency describes all this as a form suited to its purpose: a narrow, tall section and two doors for moving goods in and out.

Height and Doorways

From outside, notice the proportions of the Northern Culture Museum Rice Storehouse: a long narrow plan and high eaves that reveal the tall interior within.

The thick boarding at the base can be read as protection for the part of the wall most likely to be knocked when goods were moved. The two sliding doors under the east lean-to are where they came and went.

Visiting the Rice Storehouse

The Northern Culture Museum Rice Storehouse is in the north of the museum grounds, in the Dairoan compound. Nothing is published about interior access, so expect to see the exterior only.

The east storehouse stands nearby. Keep photos and posts to personal use.