Fujii Family Residence Kome-gura: A Rice Store With a Crest on Its Door
Somebody decided the rice store should have a pattern on it. That is the interesting fact about this building, and everything else follows from it.
The Kome-gura stands at the southeast corner of the Fujii property in Higashi-Ishikiri, Higashiosaka, at the back of a long north-south plot on the western slope of Mount Ikoma. Ridge running north to south, two storeys of earthen wall, 5.9 metres along the eaves and 3.9 metres across, a building area of roughly 28 square metres. The doorway faces west, sheltered under a small lean-to roof.
The door itself is a tsuchido, an earthen door: a heavy leaf of timber and plastered clay that seals the opening against fire. This one slides rather than swings, running to one side. And worked into its surface is a mokko motif, one of the standard forms in the Japanese vocabulary of family crests, a rounded lobed shape often described as a cross-section of a gourd or the outline of a bird's nest.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the door as bearing the mokko form. It does not record whether the motif was the Fujii family's own crest, so that connection is best left as a possibility rather than a claim.
Late Meiji, and Why the Date Matters
The Kome-gura is the youngest of the Fujii storehouses by a wide margin. The Agency for Cultural Affairs places it in the late Meiji era, 1898 to 1912, while the Inui-gura at the front of the property dates to the last decades of Edo rule, before 1868. Between those two buildings runs the whole of Japan's first industrial generation.
What that gap shows is a household still building. A family that has stopped investing in its property does not put up a new two-storey earthen storehouse in 1900. Rice needed storing; the old arrangements were no longer sufficient, or no longer where they should be; so a new store went up at the back of the plot.
The building was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, number 27-0660, on 29 November 2016, in the eighty-fifth round of registrations, under the criterion that it contributes to the historic landscape of the nation. Seven Fujii buildings entered the register together, following the Council for Cultural Affairs recommendation of July that year.
Registration is worth explaining, because it is often mistaken for a lesser version of designation. It is not a ranking. Japan runs two systems side by side. Designation, the older one, protects a small number of outstanding buildings under a permission regime. Registration, created in 1996, addresses a different problem: the disappearance of ordinary buildings roughly fifty years old or more that give places their character. It works by notification. Owners inform the authorities before substantial exterior change and otherwise carry on using the property. The purpose is continuity, not preservation in amber.
Looking Closely
The gable walls carry round windows, described in the official record as two round openings. A circular window in an earthen storehouse is not a structural convenience. Cutting a round hole through a thick mud wall and then plastering the reveal true is more difficult than cutting a square one, and the shape carries associations, with Zen architecture, with the moon, with the ideal of an unobstructed view. Putting round windows on a rice store is a small refusal to treat the rice store as merely functional.
The walls are finished in nakanuri, the intermediate plaster layer, left exposed rather than covered in white lime. Compare that with the Inui-gura at the front of the property, which is finished white. Front buildings get the lime. The back building gets the honest earth colour, and a hachimaki, a raised plaster band running around the wall like a headband, breaking the height and shedding water.
The roof is okiyane, a separate frame standing clear of the earthen box beneath, gabled and laid with pantile. The gap between roof and wall is one of the recognition points for storehouses of this tradition. It keeps rain off the mud and buys time in a fire.
The official description ends by noting that the building forms the landscape at the rear of the residence. That is a careful way of saying it has always been a background object, seen over walls and between other roofs rather than approached directly, and that the household nevertheless gave it a crest, round windows and a proper plaster band.
Access
The Fujii residence is private property in corporate ownership, with no regular public opening. The Kome-gura sits at the back of the plot and is the least visible of the registered buildings from outside.
Visitors who make the trip should expect to see the street elevation only: the main gate and the Inui-gura storehouse, both readable from the public lane. Do not enter the grounds or attempt to view the rear buildings over walls.
Higashiosaka has occasionally included its surviving old houses in local heritage events, generally on announced autumn dates. These openings are not regular and cannot be relied on. Confirm with the Higashiosaka City board of education or through the Osaka Cultural Properties Navi listings.
Ishikiri Station on the Kintetsu Nara Line is the nearest access point, on the same hillside.
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Q&A
- What is the mokko motif on the door?
- Mokko is one of the classic shapes in Japanese heraldry, a rounded lobed outline usually explained as a gourd in cross-section or a bird's nest. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records that the earthen door bears this form but does not state whether it was the Fujii family's crest.
- How does the Kome-gura differ from the Inui-gura on the same property?
- They differ by roughly two generations and by finish. The Inui-gura is late Edo, faces the street, is plastered white and roofed in formal round-and-flat tile. The Kome-gura is late Meiji, sits at the rear, keeps its intermediate plaster coat exposed and uses pantile.
- Why does an earthen door slide instead of swinging open?
- Earthen doors are extremely heavy, since they are built of timber packed and plastered with clay for fire resistance. Sliding on a track carries that weight better than hinges do, and the door can be closed quickly in an emergency.
- Is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property less valuable than an Important Cultural Property?
- They are different systems rather than different ranks. Designation covers a small number of outstanding buildings under permission-based control. Registration, begun in 1996, is a notification-based framework aimed at keeping ordinary historic buildings in use and in place.
- Can I see the building?
- Not readily. It stands at the rear of a private property with no regular opening, and it is not visible from the public lane. The gate and front storehouse can be seen from the street.
Basic Information
| Name | Fujii Family Residence Kome-gura, Rice Storehouse (藤井家住宅米蔵) |
|---|---|
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), No. 27-0660 |
| Registered | 29 November 2016 (85th round of registration) |
| Criterion | Contributes to the historic landscape of the nation |
| Count | 1 building |
| Period | Late Meiji era, 1898 to 1912 |
| Structure | Earthen-walled construction, two storeys, tiled roof; building area approximately 28 square metres |
| Dimensions | 5.9 metres along the ridge, 3.9 metres across the beam span |
| Roof | Gabled pantile, separate roof construction; lean-to over the west doorway |
| Address | 500-1 Higashi-Ishikiri-cho 5-chome, Higashiosaka City, Osaka Prefecture |
| Owner | Kiriu Real Estate Trust Co., Ltd. |
| Access | Ishikiri Station, Kintetsu Nara Line |
| Public access | Private property, no regular opening; located at the rear of the plot and not visible from the lane |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Fujii Family Residence Kome-gura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011362
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties: Fujii Family Residence Inui-gura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011361
- Cultural Heritage Online: Fujii Family Residence Main House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/284426
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Minutes of the 172nd Cultural Properties Subcommittee, Council for Cultural Affairs
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkashingikai/bunkazai/16/pdf/gijiyoshi_172.pdf
- Higashiosaka City: List of Designated and Registered Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.higashiosaka.lg.jp/0000031698.html
Last verified: 2026.07.16