Mizote Family Residence No. 2 Storehouse

A Meiji-Era Strongroom Set Apart

Mizote Family Residence No. 2 Storehouse (溝手家住宅二号蔵, Mizote-ke Jūtaku Nigō-gura) is an earthen-walled storehouse built in 1904 on a wealthy farming family's estate in Hayashima, Okayama Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2021.

It stands toward the north of the site, deliberately a little apart from the other buildings: a two-storey dozo-zukuri storehouse with a tiled roof and a footprint of 49 square metres. This was where the family kept its valuables, and the distance from its neighbours reads as a precaution against fire.

Why It Was Registered

The storehouse was registered under number 33-0341 for its contribution to the historic landscape.

Most of the Mizote storehouses use namako-kabe on their lower walls and corners. The Mizote Family Residence No. 2 Storehouse is different: its lower walls and gable ends are faced with tiles set on the diagonal, which the Agency for Cultural Affairs picks out as its eye-catching feature. Set beside the late-Edo storehouses on the same estate, it shows how the finish changed with the Meiji era.

What to Look For

The facing tiles are laid at forty-five degrees in a pattern called shihan-bari, with the joints recessed behind the tile surface. On namako-kabe the plaster joints stand proud; here the reverse happens, and the tiles themselves seem to float forward in a diagonal grid.

The door, centred on the south wall, has a small gabled canopy. Inside, the ground floor held sliding doors and screens, and the upper floor has glass-fronted cabinets and hanging shelves for tableware and hanging scrolls.

Every roof timber, from the heavy ridge beam down to the rafters, has been finished with a plane. Surfaces nobody normally sees were still dressed with care, which says a good deal about how the family valued what the Mizote Family Residence No. 2 Storehouse protected.

Visiting

The Mizote Family Residence No. 2 Storehouse belongs to a private home and its interior is closed. It stands toward the north of the compound.

Whether any of it is visible must be checked from the road on the north side, and the view is likely to be limited. Do not enter the grounds.