Katagiri Seiryudo East Storehouse

A Single-Storey Storehouse on the Garden's Northern Edge

Katagiri Seiryudo East Storehouse (片桐棲龍堂東ノ蔵, Katagiri Seiryūdō Higashi-no-kura) is a single-storey earthen-walled storehouse at the Katagiri Seiryudo kampo pharmacy in Nishiminatocho, Sakai Ward, Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture, said to date from the Kaei era (1848 to 1853) and entered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 October 2000. Built in the Dozo-zukuri manner with a tiled roof, it covers 17 square metres.

It stands east of the Main House. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as marking the northern boundary at the centre of the Yabunouchi-school garden that runs on into the family's herb garden. A storehouse that doubles as the edge of a garden is what makes Katagiri Seiryudo East Storehouse distinctive.

The frame measures 2 bays by 2 and a half bays. The gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof is laid with Hongawarabuki tiles, and the entrance is in the gable end, the arrangement called Tsumairi. The door faces west, towards the Main House, and the ground in front of it was later paved with brick.

Registered as a Model of Its Type

Katagiri Seiryudo East Storehouse and the Middle Storehouse were registered as exemplary of their type, the only two of the seven structures listed under that criterion. Its registration number is 27-0107.

The two Kaei storehouses make a telling pair. The Middle Storehouse is tall, two storeys high, with its door on the long south side. The East Storehouse is low, a single storey, with its door in the west gable. Registered together, they show within one compound how storehouses of the same years took different shapes according to their use and their place on the site.

A single-storey store also keeps out of the view. Sitting on the garden's northern edge, it does not block the depth of the garden as seen from the house, which is probably no accident.

The Brick Forecourt and the Washing Area

The brick laid before the west door continues into the floor of the Washing Area, the early Meiji structure that carries a roof from the east gable of the Middle Storehouse to the west gable of Katagiri Seiryudo East Storehouse. Its floor is local red brick set in a herringbone pattern, so the East Storehouse's door opens directly into that covered space.

The Brick Wall begins here too, starting at the south-west corner of the East Storehouse and running almost due west to screen the Washing Area from the garden. A Kaei storehouse with Meiji brick floor and wall attached: the compound's late Edo and early Meiji layers meet at this one corner.

Visiting

Katagiri Seiryudo East Storehouse stands on the northern edge of a garden that is closed to the public, and it cannot be entered. The compound is a private home and pharmacy; Sakai City asks visitors to view the buildings from outside only, and how much of this storehouse can be seen from the lane has not been confirmed. Photograph only from the public street. Directions are on the Katagiri Seiryudo page.