Asano Family Residence South Barn

What the Asano Family Residence South Barn Is

The Asano Family Residence South Barn (浅野家住宅南納屋, Asano-ke Jūtaku Minami-naya) is a small single-storey timber barn built around 1935 in Kyuhoji 5-chome, Yao City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 8 November 2004. It stands midway along the southern boundary of the Asano estate, just west of the Tatsumi Storehouse.

At 2 and a half by 1 and a half bays and 15 square metres, it is the smallest of the five registered buildings. The gabled roof, Kirizuma-zukuri, runs east to west and is laid in Sangawara-buki tile. The walls are bare earthen plaster above a skirting of vertical boards.

The door is on the north face, opening onto the yard, and glazed windows are set in the gable.

Why It Was Registered

It was registered as a building contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out its role in the view of the estate from the south: small as it is, the Asano Family Residence South Barn shapes how the property looks from that side.

It is one of the three outbuildings raised around 1935 at the back of the plot, and it closes the south side of the yard behind the main house. With the house on the north, the East Barn and Tatsumi Storehouse on the east and this barn on the south, the yard is enclosed on three sides.

Its finish is the plainest of the five. The storehouses and the East Barn are coated in white plaster; the Asano Family Residence South Barn keeps its walls in unplastered earth.

What to Look For

The glazed windows in the gable date the building well. The late Edo Inui Storehouse relies on a small upper window, while this barn of around 1935 simply sets glass into its gable.

The earthen walls and board skirting are worth a look too. Without a coat of white lime, the earth itself is the surface, and next to the white storehouses and barn the difference in texture is obvious.

Note which way the door faces: north, toward the yard. The Asano Family Residence South Barn is a work shed that opens into the household, not onto the lane outside.

Visiting

The Asano Family Residence South Barn is on private property and is not open (checked 27 September 2026). Since the Agency mentions its place in the view from the south, that is the side from which any of it may be seen; the door, on the yard side, is not visible from outside.

Keep photography to the street, and do not try to look into the grounds.