Kobatake Family Residence New Storehouse

The last storehouse in the western line

The Kobatake Family Residence New Storehouse (古畑家住宅新蔵, Kobatake-ke Jūtaku Shingura) is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse on a farmstead in Nakahata, Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, built in 1925 (Taisho 14) and entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 8 July 2008. It measures 5.4 metres by 3.9 metres, with a building area of 21 square metres.

It stands against the north side of the West Storehouse, at the end of a run of three buildings that starts with the main house. Like its neighbour it sits on the Ishigaki stone retaining wall along the western edge of the property, and the west walls of the two storehouses form one continuous face. Of the Taisho-era buildings on the farmstead, it is the only one dated to a single year.

The roof is a Kirizuma-zukuri gable in Sangawara-buki pantiles, built as an okiyane, a placed roof set over the clay walls. The walls have a skirt of vertical boarding, and the white Shikkui lime plaster is carried all the way up to wrap the eaves of the roof.

Why it was registered

The Kobatake Family Residence New Storehouse was registered, as number 27-0490, for its contribution to the historic landscape.

Its finishes follow the house pattern for storehouses: white lime plaster, a boarded skirt, a placed roof with plastered eaves. What the Agency for Cultural Affairs picks out is how it departs from its twin. Although it continues the West Storehouse's wall along the stonework, it rises a little higher at the ridge and has windows on the ground floor, giving the pair some variety. Same finish, slightly different form.

What to look for

Set the New Storehouse beside the West Storehouse and two differences stand out. The first is height: the new building's ridge sits slightly above its neighbour's. Two storehouses of identical finish share the same stone base, and that step in the roofline is what tells you they are separate buildings.

The second is the windows. Storehouses are usually kept nearly blind at ground level, for security and to limit the ways fire can get in. The New Storehouse has openings on the lower floor as well. It is tempting to read this as a sign the building was meant for work as well as storage, but no record we could find says so.

The name shingura simply means new storehouse, presumably marking it as the newest store on the site when it was built. It no longer is: the Rice Storehouse dates from the early Showa era, after it.

Visiting

The Kobatake Family Residence New Storehouse stands at the back of the property, north of the main house and the West Storehouse. From the road on the east side it is hidden by the house and the eastern buildings, so it is hard to see from public ground. The interior is not open and the grounds cannot be entered.

What the public can see of the farmstead is mainly the Nagayamon Gate and the two east storehouses on the road. A trip made just for the New Storehouse is not recommended.