Asano Family Residence Inui Storehouse

What the Asano Family Residence Inui Storehouse Is

The Asano Family Residence Inui Storehouse (浅野家住宅乾蔵, Asano-ke Jūtaku Inuigura) is a late Edo-period storehouse, built between 1830 and 1867, in Kyuhoji 5-chome, Yao City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 8 November 2004. It stands west of the main house, in the northwest corner of the Asano estate.

The plan is almost square, 2 by 2 bays, and on it rises a two-storey Dozo-zukuri body, the thick fire-resistant earthen construction of Japanese storehouses. It covers 19 square metres, the second smallest of the five registered buildings after the South Barn. The gabled roof, Kirizuma-zukuri, is in Hongawarabuki tile. The walls are finished in white Shikkui lime plaster over a skirting of vertical boards.

Inui is an old name for the direction northwest, so the name of the Asano Family Residence Inui Storehouse simply says which corner of the plot it holds. The opposite corner, to the southeast, is taken by the Tatsumi Storehouse of 1935.

Why It Was Registered

Like the rest of the estate, it was registered as a building contributing to the historic landscape. Built in the same late Edo campaign as the main house, it shares the north side of the plot, the side facing the street, with it. The outbuildings at the back belong to a later phase; this storehouse and the house together hold the older street front.

Notice where the openings are. The doorway is on the east face, fitted with a single sliding earthen door, a Tsuchido, and the upper window opens to the south. Both look inward, toward the household. To the lane on the north the storehouse presents a blank wall, which is exactly how a building meant to keep valuables safe from fire and theft ought to behave.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs is careful to say that the gate and wall on the north side are recent alterations. What is valued is the storehouse itself.

What to Look For

The strongest line on the exterior is where the white plaster meets the band of vertical boarding at the base. That skirting protects the earthen wall from rain splashing up off the ground, and it wraps the building in a wooden band beneath the white.

The hongawara roof matches the main roof of the house next door. The two late Edo buildings share the heavier tiling, while the Tatsumi Storehouse and South Barn of around 1935 use sangawara. Compare the tiles and you can sort the Asano Family Residence Inui Storehouse into the older layer of the estate.

From the street, remember that the gate and wall in front are modern. The white wall and tiled roof rising behind them are the late Edo fabric.

Visiting

The Asano Family Residence Inui Storehouse stands on private property and is not open (checked 27 September 2026). Because its door and window face inward, what the public road offers is mainly the upper wall and roof above the gate and wall.

Photograph from the street only, and keep the lens out of the gateway.