Hiroumi Family Residence New Storehouse

The Newest of the Storehouses

The Hiroumi Family Residence New Storehouse (廣海家住宅新蔵, Hiroumi-ke jūtaku shingura) is a two-storey storehouse from the late Meiji period in Nishimachi, Kaizuka City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003.

It stands near the southwest corner of the lot. Its plan is close to square, 3 by 3 ken, with a footprint of 34 square meters; the walls are thick clay (Dozo-zukuri), the roof is tiled, and the door opens in the east gable.

As the name says, the Hiroumi Family Residence New Storehouse is the youngest of the storehouses, added in the later Meiji years to a group otherwise built at the end of the Edo period.

Why It Matters

The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the second half of the Meiji period because its timbers show less weathering than those of the other storehouses. The Hiroumi family gave up shipping in 1883 but carried on as fertilizer wholesalers, so the Hiroumi Family Residence New Storehouse belongs to the years when the business had changed shape but the household was still expanding.

It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. With 3 Edo-period storehouses and this Meiji one, the compound shows storage growing over generations rather than being built all at once.

What to Look For

The roof framing follows the Lower Storehouse: a heavy ridge beam with sloping rafter-beams laid from it. Decades apart, the same way of building storehouses carried on within the one property.

The near-square plan contrasts with the long, narrow Lower Storehouse, so the pair shows the same roof system applied to two different shapes.

Seen beside the Edo storehouses, differences in the color and wear of the materials hint at the gap in age, the same evidence the Agency relied on.

Visiting the Hiroumi Family Residence New Storehouse

The Hiroumi Family Residence New Storehouse stands inside a private compound and is not open to the public. It is near the southwest corner, but whether it can be seen from the surrounding roads has not been confirmed.

The grounds are closed, so any viewing is from the public roads around the property. How the compound fits together, and how to get there, is covered on the Hiroumi Family Residence page.