Ishikawa Family Residence Utensil Storehouse

The Storehouse on Level Ground

The Ishikawa Family Residence Utensil Storehouse (石川家住宅道具蔵, Ishikawa-ke Jūtaku Dōgugura) is an earthen-walled storehouse of the early Showa era, between 1926 and 1945, in Fukae-minami, Higashinari Ward, Osaka City, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 27 February 2023.

It stands towards the north end of the west side of the Ishikawa compound, directly south of the raised storehouse. It is the youngest of the six registered structures on the property and has a building area of 16 square metres. A dogugura is, broadly, the store where a household kept its equipment: lacquered trays and bowls, furnishings, the things brought out for occasions.

Its neighbour to the north sits on a tall stone base; the utensil storehouse stands on the level. The Agency for Cultural Affairs reads the contrast as evidence that the two buildings had different jobs.

Why It Was Registered

The utensil storehouse was registered, as number 27-0866, for its contribution to the historic townscape.

That means it counts as part of the compound's outer edge as much as a building in its own right. Earthen walls run from it to north and south, and storehouse and walls together form a continuous boundary around the property. The note "with walls" in the Agency's structural entry indicates that these walls are included in the registration.

What to Look For

How It Is Built

The roof is a simple gable covered in hongawara tiles, with the entrance on the long side, parallel to the ridge. The walls are of dozo-zukuri construction, clay over timber, with boarding across the lower part.

On the side facing the main house a small pent roof shelters a urajiro-do, a storehouse door whose inner face is finished in white plaster, set behind the heavy outer doors.

One Storey or Two?

The Agency's own record does not agree on how tall the Ishikawa Family Residence Utensil Storehouse is. The structural entry describes it as single-storey, while the descriptive text calls it two-storey and adds that each floor is one boarded room. The published material does not settle which is right, so both are given here.

Seeing the Utensil Storehouse

The Ishikawa Family Residence Utensil Storehouse is owned by Ishikawa Co., Ltd., and the interior is not open. It stands along the west edge of the plot, and the exterior photograph in the Agency's database was taken from the west; view it from outside as far as the surroundings allow.

Seen alongside the raised storehouse to the north, the difference between a store on a stone base and a store on the level is easy to read. Photograph from the public road only, and do not step onto the property. Directions to the compound are on the Ishikawa Family Residence page.