Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn

What Is the Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn?

The Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn (旧井上家住宅北納屋, Kyū-Inoue-ke Jūtaku Kitanaya) is an early Showa-period barn on a village headman's estate in Kusaka, Higashiosaka City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 15 August 2024.

It stands east of the Rear Rice Storehouse, facing south, with a building area of 68 square meters. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn to the early Showa period, between 1926 and 1945, which makes it the only one of the estate's twelve registered structures that does not go back to the Edo period.

Why a Showa-Era Barn Was Registered

The Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn is registration number 27-0922, entered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency describes it as a long barn that shapes the view of the estate from the north.

Buildings generally become eligible for national registration once they are fifty years old, so this Showa barn was entered on the same day as the late Edo storehouses and gates around it. The Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn completes the row that runs east from the North Storehouse and Rear Rice Storehouse, and is the newest of the registered buildings on the estate.

A Gable-Entry Barn with an Open Roof Frame

The Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn is a single-storey building with a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof in Sangawara-buki tile. Most of the storehouses and barns here have their doors on the long side, but this barn is Tsumairi, entered through the triangular gable end.

The doorway is in the south face, sheltered by a lean-to Geya, with windows opened above it. The walls are plastered in Shikkui, with Tateita-bari vertical boarding at the base.

Inside is one undivided room: an earthen Doma floor on the west half and a board floor on the east. There is no ceiling, so the Wagoya roof frame of posts on beams is left open overhead. Earth floor and board floor share one open space, and the length of the building seen from outside is simply the length of this single room.

Visiting the Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn

The Former Inoue Family Residence, including the Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn, is not open to the public, and the grounds cannot be entered. The open roof frame inside cannot be seen.

The Former Inoue Family Residence North Barn is on the north side of the estate, in line with the North Storehouse and the Rear Rice Storehouse, forming the northern view of the property. Directions are on the Former Inoue Family Residence page.