Former Nakayama Family Residence Detached House and Inner Storehouse

Former Nakayama Family Residence Detached House and Inner Storehouse

The Former Nakayama Family Residence Detached House and Inner Storehouse (旧中山家住宅離れ屋及び内蔵, Kyū Nakayama-ke Jūtaku Hanareya oyobi Uchigura) is a two-story annex on businessman Nakayama Setsutarō's estate in Tsurajima-chō Nishinoura, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, joining a guest pavilion and a household storehouse in one structure; it dates from around 1914 and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 2, 2018.

It lies west of the main house, reached by a covered corridor, and runs north to south. The southern half is the hanareya, a timber guest pavilion; the northern half is the uchigura, an inner storehouse of earthen-walled construction. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records it as a two-story tiled building of timber and earthen-wall construction with a building area of 103 square meters.

According to the preservation society, both floors of the pavilion have connected tatami rooms, with a toilet reached along the veranda at the southwest corner. There was never a kitchen; one added in later years has since been removed.

Why the Detached House and Inner Storehouse Matter

The Former Nakayama Family Residence Detached House and Inner Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a distinctive annex that links an elegant pavilion to a massive storehouse.

The contrast is stark. The pavilion faces south under an hip-and-gable roof of pantiles, with a narrow roof skirting each floor. The storehouse has a plain gabled roof, walls finished in black Shikkui plaster, and a lower band of Namako-kabe, the lattice of flat tiles and raised white plaster joints used to protect storehouse walls, on both floors. Open, screened rooms and a closed, fireproof vault meet back to back in a single building.

The preservation society believes the pavilion was used to lodge distinguished guests and hold meetings, which would have given the household a place for overnight visitors separate from the formal rooms of the main house.

What to Look For

The eight-mat room upstairs in the pavilion commands a wide view. The preservation society notes that, raised further by the stone walls below, it looks south over the town of Mizushima to the distant sea. With the storm shutters open, the east and south verandas become open decks built to catch the breeze.

Study the eaves. On the ground floor, two layers of rafters, slender flying rafters over base rafters, carry the roof far out, and the outer 74 centimeters or so are sheathed in copper. The upper floor has its own hip-and-gable roof, with copper over the veranda. It is the same effort to make a heavy tiled roof look thin that runs through the main house.

Then turn to the storehouse. Its black walls rise directly behind the white plaster and pale screens of the pavilion, crossed by two bands of namako-kabe lattice. Seeing the color and texture switch within one structure is the main pleasure of the Former Nakayama Family Residence Detached House and Inner Storehouse.

The water that feeds the garden ponds runs past the east side of the storehouse and under the covered corridor. Standing on the corridor you can work out where the channel passes beneath your feet.

Visiting the Detached House and Inner Storehouse

On the estate's opening days, the Former Nakayama Family Residence Detached House and Inner Storehouse is approached from the main house along the covered corridor. Access to the pavilion rooms, the upper floor and the storehouse interior depends on what is open at the time, so check at the entrance.

For the exterior, the garden west of the main house gives a frontal view of the pavilion's hip-and-gable roof and its two tiers of eaves. Walk round to the north to see the black walls of the storehouse, with the stone plinth of the middle storehouse beyond.

No photography rules are published for the annex; the staff at the entrance can tell you what is allowed. Transport and opening details for the whole estate are on the Former Nakayama Family Residence page.