Harinakano Nakano Acupuncture General Storehouse

The smallest of the seven

Harinakano Nakano Acupuncture General Storehouse is a plastered storehouse in the Nakano family's acupuncture compound in Higashisumiyoshi Ward, Osaka, built in 1910 and entered on the national register as Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 5 December 2019.

It stands east of the document storehouse and faces east. Two storeys of dozo-zukuri construction covering 21 square metres, the smallest of the seven registered buildings. The roof is sheet metal and the ridge runs east to west.

The walls are shikkui. What distinguishes this one is the eaves: the soffit projects beyond the wall plane and the plaster is carried round it, so a band of shadow falls across the top of the wall and sharpens the outline. Vertical boarding protects the base.

Both floors are single undivided rooms with plastered walls, and the roof frame is wagoya. Harinakano Nakano Acupuncture General Storehouse is what its name says, a store for ordinary goods, without the specialised provision of the document storehouse next to it.

Why it was registered

The listing criterion is contribution to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that this storehouse introduces variation into a southern frontage otherwise made up of buildings presenting their gable ends.

The buildings along the southern street mostly turn a gable to the road. Harinakano Nakano Acupuncture General Storehouse does not: its ridge runs east to west, so the street sees the long side. One building breaking the rhythm keeps a row of identical gables from becoming a repeating pattern.

The roof differs too. Neighbouring storehouses are tiled; this one is sheeted in metal and reads as a flat plane. Its construction date of 1910 matches the main house, the point at which the expansion of the compound settled into its final shape.

What to look for

Walk to the eastern end of the southern street and the wall of this storehouse runs away from you horizontally. The switch from the triangular gable of the document storehouse to the flat run of Harinakano Nakano Acupuncture General Storehouse is the sharpest change of rhythm anywhere on the frontage.

Study the eaves. The soffit projects past the wall and plaster wraps the underside, so wall and roof fuse into a single mass. That is the logic of storehouse construction, and the projection here is unusually deep.

The charred cedar boarding on the lower wall was renewed in the 2017 restoration work. Sheet iron came off, boards went back on, and the skirt now aligns with the document storehouse next door. Before and after photographs are published in Osaka City's report.

Seeing it

Harinakano Nakano Acupuncture General Storehouse is not open to visitors. The compound cannot be entered and the interior is closed.

Viewing is from the southern street. The entrance faces east, so what the road shows is mainly the long southern wall. Use the document storehouse as a marker: this one is immediately to its east. There is no admission charge and no opening hours.

Keep photography to the exterior from the road. Directions from the station and the viewing conditions for the compound as a whole are set out on the Harinakano Nakano Acupuncture page.