Matsumura Family Residence Storehouse No. 1

A Two-Story Storehouse Behind the Reception Rooms

The Matsumura Family Residence Storehouse No. 1 (松村家住宅土蔵一, Matsumura-ke Jūtaku Dozō Ichi) is an end-of-Edo-period Dozo-zukuri storehouse in Shimaizumi 2-chome, Habikino, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on August 3, 2006. It stands on the estate of the Matsumura family, village headmen of Minami-Shimaizumi, just north of the back reception rooms of the main house, with its ridge running east to west.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs database dates it to the end of the Edo period, a range it gives as 1830 to 1867. It is a two-story earthen-walled storehouse with a tiled roof and a building area of 22 square meters, and the only two-story storehouse of the three on the estate.

Closing the North Side of the Estate

The Matsumura Family Residence Storehouse No. 1 was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape of the country (registration number 27-0375). The Agency's description credits it with forming the north side of the estate.

Two storehouses stand in a line along the back of the plot: Storehouse No. 2 north of the earth-floored doma, and Storehouse No. 1 north of the reception rooms. The gatehouse and Storehouse No. 3 give the estate its public face on the south; this pair finishes it off at the rear. At just 3 by 2 ken in plan (a ken is roughly 1.8 meters), Storehouse No. 1 is small, but its second story varies the outline of the back of the estate.

A Floating Roof and a Three-Part Wall

The roof is gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) and covered in round-and-flat Hongawarabuki tile, and it is an okiyane, a separate roof frame set on top of the plastered body of the storehouse. The gap between roof and walls lets air through, which is said to soften the summer sun and to help protect the storehouse itself if the roof catches fire. Japanese storehouses have long used this arrangement.

The walls read in three bands from bottom to top: a base of laid stone, a skirt of vertical boards, and white Shikkui lime plaster above. The boards shield the earthen wall from splashing rain and knocks, and can be replaced when worn.

The door is on the south side, facing the main house, sheltered by a small projecting roof. It is reached across the garden from the reception rooms, but no published source records what the storehouse held.

Seeing the Storehouse

The Matsumura Family Residence Storehouse No. 1 stands at the rear of the estate behind the main house. The whole estate is a private home, and no public opening had been announced as of September 2026, so the storehouse cannot be visited.

Expect to see no more than the gatehouse and outer wall from the road, and please do not walk around to peer over the walls at the back. Directions are on the Matsumura Family Residence page.