Fujimoto Family Residence Clothing Storehouse

The Fujimoto Family Residence Clothing Storehouse

The Fujimoto Family Residence Clothing Storehouse (藤本家住宅衣装蔵, Fujimoto-ke Jūtaku Ishōgura) is a single-storey late Edo-period earthen storehouse (Dozo-zukuri) in Fujiidera City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 18, 2006. It stands just south of the main house on the western edge of the estate, with its ridge running north to south.

The building measures 4 and a half by 2 Ken bays, with a recorded building area of 22 square metres, under a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) roof of round-and-flat tiles (Hongawarabuki). Inside it is divided into two rooms. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the late Edo period, giving a range of 1830 to 1867. Of the ten registered Fujimoto buildings, only this storehouse and the main house are placed that early; the other eight are early Meiji.

Why It Was Registered

Like its nine neighbours, the Fujimoto Family Residence Clothing Storehouse was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape, and the agency's note names it as one of the elements that give the temple lane its period character.

What earns it that place is its west wall. On the lane side, the storehouse was built as a direct continuation of the main house wall to the north: the same vertical board wainscoting below, the same white lime plaster (Shikkui) above. A dwelling and a fireproof store, two quite different kinds of building, read from the street as one long surface. The west barn then picks up the line to the south and carries it to the corner of the plot.

Old estates on this lane below Fujiidera temple turned their sides, not their faces, to the street, and enclosed themselves with walls and outbuildings. The clothing storehouse is a small but necessary link in that enclosure.

What to Look For

Stand across the lane and try to spot where the main house ends and the storehouse begins. The wall gives almost nothing away. Look up instead. The main house is roofed in lighter interlocking pantiles (Sangawara-buki), while the Fujimoto Family Residence Clothing Storehouse carries round-and-flat tiles, which lay down strong vertical ribs. The point where the roof texture changes while the wall runs on unbroken is the boundary between the two buildings.

Only three of the estate's ten buildings have this heavier roofing: the tool, clothing and north rice storehouses. All three held the household's goods.

The south gable end is finished in the nurigome manner, with plaster carried over the timber so no wood is left exposed, a standard precaution against fire on earthen storehouses. The west barn stands hard against it, so this face cannot be seen squarely from the street.

The name suggests a store for clothing and household textiles, kept separately from rice and tools, and the long, narrow plan split into two rooms fits that kind of use, though no record of its original contents has been published.

Visiting the Fujimoto Family Residence Clothing Storehouse

The Fujimoto Family Residence Clothing Storehouse belongs to a private home, and the interior is closed. Its east side faces into the grounds and cannot be seen.

The west wall is on the public lane, between the main house and the west barn. From the opposite side of the street, follow the roofline south from the main house until the tiles change; that stretch is the storehouse. Photographs of the exterior from the street are fine, but keep them brief and do not step into the gateways. Directions from the station are on the Fujimoto Family Residence page.