The store for tea utensils and household goods
The Sezaki Family Residence South Storehouse is a mid-Meiji Dozo-zukuri storehouse in Hattori, Mabicho, Kurashiki City, Okayama Prefecture, listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) on 6 August 2025.
It rises 2 storeys over a floor area of 69 m², with a Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles running north to south, and joins the north storehouse at its northern end. At 69 m² against 51 m², it is the larger of the two.
It held tea utensils and household goods. The compound contains two teahouses, the Shoraitei and the Nyozean, and this building is where the equipment used in them was kept. Listed separately, the teahouses and this storehouse worked as one set of facilities.
Listed for its outward form
The south storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it a storehouse whose weight of appearance shapes the character of the compound.
That weight comes from the finishes. The west face carries a pent roof and a lower wall of Namako-kabe, flat tiles set into plaster with the joints raised in rounded ridges. The technique sheds rain well and throws a lattice pattern visible from a distance. The other three faces have boarded lower walls with tile applied at the drip courses and corners.
Effort, in other words, was spent unevenly. The face people saw got the lattice plaster; the rest got practical timber. Kurashiki is known for namako-kabe, and this building shows how a household decided where to use it.
Reading it against its neighbour
Inside, the ground floor has two rooms and the upper floor one, all boarded. This is where it differs from the north storehouse, which has a matted room with an alcove. The south storehouse stays a storehouse throughout.
The difference is legible from outside as well. Vertical boarding on the lower wall of the north storehouse, lattice plaster on the west face of the south. Because the two are joined, you can follow the wall and find the point where one finish gives way to the other.
Both roofs are pantiled with ridges running north to south, so from a distance the pair reads as one long building. In fact two storehouses, built for different purposes, happen to stand shoulder to shoulder.
Visiting
The Sezaki Family Residence South Storehouse is privately owned and not open. It stands on the eastern boundary and, like its neighbour, is best seen from the levee of the Oda River; the photograph in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database was taken there.
The lattice plaster that makes the building worth looking at is on the west face, which is difficult to see from the levee. Since the grounds are closed, you work with what the public road offers. Photograph from outside the property only. Directions are on the Sezaki Family Residence page.
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Q&A
- Can I go inside the Sezaki Family Residence South Storehouse?
- No. The building is privately owned, and neither it nor the grounds are open to visitors.
- What did the Sezaki Family Residence South Storehouse hold?
- Tea utensils and household goods, including the equipment used in the compound's two teahouses.
- How does the Sezaki Family Residence South Storehouse differ from the north one?
- It is larger, 69 m² against 51 m², and is boarded throughout, two rooms below and one above, where the north storehouse contains a matted room with an alcove.
- Where is the namako-kabe on the Sezaki Family Residence South Storehouse?
- On the lower part of the west face: flat tiles bedded in plaster with the joints raised into rounded ridges, a finish that sheds rain and reads as a lattice from a distance.
- Why was the Sezaki Family Residence South Storehouse registered?
- It was listed on 6 August 2025 for its contribution to the historic landscape, the substantial exterior being judged central to the character of the compound.
Basic Information
| Name | Sezaki Family Residence South Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 914-1 Tsujido, Hattori, Mabicho, Kurashiki, Okayama |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2025/08/06 (Reiwa 7) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Storehouse construction, 2 storeys, tile roof, building area 69 m² |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (private residence; exterior only, from outside the grounds) |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database: Sezaki Family Residence South Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00015508
- Sezaki Family Residence Main House and Other Structures (Kurashiki City Board of Education)
- https://www.city.kurashiki.okayama.jp/culture/art/1007596/1007597/1011206/1007792/1016887.html
Last verified: 2026.09.17
