Fujimoto Family Residence West Barn

The Fujimoto Family Residence West Barn

The Fujimoto Family Residence West Barn (藤本家住宅西納屋, Fujimoto-ke Jūtaku Nishinaya) is a single-storey early Meiji-period timber barn in Fujiidera City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 18, 2006. It stands just south of the clothing storehouse, with its ridge running north to south.

It measures 4 by 2 Ken bays and covers 30 square metres under a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) pantile roof (Sangawara-buki), with two rooms inside, one north and one south. Its west wall is built as a continuation of the clothing storehouse, and on the south side the wall of the east barn extends across it like a lean-to (Geya).

Why It Was Registered

The Fujimoto Family Residence West Barn was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls it the keystone of the view along the estate's west and south sides.

On the west side, the main house, the clothing storehouse and this barn form one continuous wall along the temple approach. On the south side, the east barn, the back gate and the south rice storehouse do the same along the other street. The west barn sits where the two frontages meet, and it is the reason the estate's outer wall carries on unbroken around the corner.

What to Look For

Stand at the southwest corner of the estate. On the west face, the barn's wall flows straight out of the clothing storehouse, and it takes a moment to see where one building ends and the next begins.

Walk around the corner and the south face tells the opposite story: the wall of the east barn reaches across to wrap the west barn's southern end like a lean-to. The building is fused to one neighbour on one side and to another on the other.

As a structure, the Fujimoto Family Residence West Barn is a plain 4 by 2 bay shed. Its value lies in the corner it turns.

Visiting the Fujimoto Family Residence West Barn

The Fujimoto Family Residence West Barn belongs to a private home and its interior is closed.

Because it sits on the southwest corner, its west face can be seen from the temple approach and its south face from the south street, both from public roads. Try not to stand too long at the corner itself, where you may be in the way of passing traffic. Directions from the station are on the Fujimoto Family Residence page.