Sato Family Residence West Storehouse

Sato Family Residence West Storehouse: a plastered store for the household's goods

Behind the main house, on the northern half of the site, two plastered storehouses stand side by side. The western of the pair is the kazai-gura, the store for the family's household goods, and it sits just to the west of its slightly smaller neighbour, the east storehouse.

It is a two-storey dozo, the thick-walled fireproof type of storehouse, roofed with heavy tiles in a gabled form. The outer walls are finished in white plaster, with vertical boarding protecting the lower courses against splashing rain and knocks. Doorways open on the south, toward the west end, and on the east side. The building covers about thirty-three square metres, a modest footprint that rises to make the most of its height.

Why it was registered

The west storehouse was entered in the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties in March 2019, alongside the main house, the gate, and the east storehouse. Like the gate and its twin, it was registered under the criterion for buildings that contribute to the historic landscape.

Registration is a lighter form of protection than the Important Cultural Property or National Treasure designations, and it values a building for its part in a wider scene as much as for itself. A storehouse rarely stands out on its own, yet without the storehouses the estate would lose its balance. The pair on the north side anchor the working half of the compound and complete the layout of a substantial farm.

What to notice

The inside is arranged for storage that needed sorting. Both floors are boarded, and the ground floor is divided into two rooms, east and west, while the upper floor is left as a single open space. The roof is carried on sloping beams, the noboribari, a structural choice that opens up the loft and gives the second floor its clear span.

White plaster over a timber and earth core was the farmer's defence against fire. A dozo kept tools, grain, and valuables behind walls thick enough to resist a blaze that might take the thatched house. That the family could build and maintain two such stores says as much about their standing as the formal rooms of the gate.

The storehouse stands within a private residence and is not open to the public. It can be glimpsed from the roads around the site. For an accessible look at the everyday life and goods of this reclaimed plain, the Kurashiki City Fukuda Museum of History and Folklore nearby is open to visitors.