Hagiwara Family Residence Barn

About the Hagiwara Family Residence Barn

The Hagiwara Family Residence Barn (萩原家住宅納屋, Hagiwara-ke Jūtaku Naya) is an early Showa outbuilding, built between 1926 and 1945, in Onji Nakamachi, Yao City, Osaka Prefecture, and was entered on Japan's register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on September 10, 2019. It is a single-story tiled timber building covering 28 square meters.

The barn stands in the southwest corner of the compound, facing east, with the rear gate just to its north. It went up after the family had moved from cotton wholesaling into weaving, and together with the rear gate it is the youngest of the 7 registered Hagiwara structures.

A Front Borrowed from the Rice Storehouse

The Hagiwara barn has a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof in Sangawara-buki pantiles over a single story. It has doorways at both ends of the front, sheltered by an open-sided Geya lean-to.

That front closely follows the rice storehouse, which also faces east with doors to left and right under an open lean-to. The difference shows in the roofs: the storehouse is a 2-story fireproof Dozo-zukuri building in heavy Hongawarabuki tiles, while the barn is a single story in lighter pantiles.

Exposed Frame, Simple Roof Structure

The walls of the Hagiwara Family Residence Barn are Shikkui plaster in the Shinkabe manner, with the timber frame left showing, and vertical boards below. Unlike a storehouse, the walls are not thickly sealed in plaster, so the lines of the frame read on the outside.

Inside, the barn is split into 2 rooms, north and south. The roof is carried only on a ridge beam (Munagi) and purlins, a light, plain structure suited to a single-story outbuilding.

Why the Barn Was Registered

The Hagiwara Family Residence Barn was registered as contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says that together with the cotton and rice storehouses it gives the rear of the compound its solid appearance.

With the late Edo cotton storehouse and the rice storehouse of 1909, the early Showa barn completed the rear range. Its date alone shows that the back of the house took more than a century to reach its present form.

According to the family, the first phase of restoration, covering the main house, the Tatsumi storehouse and the barn, was finished in 2019, when the buildings came back into use.

Visiting the Hagiwara Family Residence Barn

The Hagiwara Family Residence Barn is at the back of the site, in the southwest corner, and Chakichian gives no information on opening its interior (checked September 2026). If you visit the grounds while Chakichian is open, follow the staff's guidance.

No photography rules are published, so ask before taking pictures on the property. Directions are on the Hagiwara Family Residence (Yao) page.