Nakayama Family Residence Pottery Storehouse

What Is the Nakayama Family Residence Pottery Storehouse?

The Nakayama Family Residence Pottery Storehouse (中山家住宅瀬戸物蔵, Nakayama-ke Jūtaku Setomonogura) is an early Meiji-era storehouse for ceramics standing north of the rice storehouse on the Nakayama estate in Bessho, Matsubara City, Osaka Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 2, 2004.

It is a single-story dozo-zukuri storehouse of 3 bays by 2 under a gabled roof of pantiles, with a building area of 27 square meters, and it closes the line of storehouses running north from the main house.

A Storehouse for Tableware

Setomono, after the kilns of Seto, is the everyday Japanese word for ceramics, and the Nakayama Family Residence Pottery Storehouse was built for them. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes a wooden floor inside and shelving on all four walls for porcelain and stoneware.

A senior headman's household, with frequent guests and ceremonies, would have needed trays and dishes in quantity, and a storehouse just for tableware is tangible evidence of that way of life. It is one of only two Meiji-era buildings among the fourteen, added in the early Meiji years to a row of Edo storehouses.

Details Worth Knowing

The door, toward the south end of the east side, has a small tiled canopy. In the middle of the west side is a window with an iron shutter that could be closed against fire.

The walls are shikkui plaster with vertical boarding on the lower half. The roof is framed with sloping rafters rising to a heavy ridge beam, the same system as the north two-story storehouse.

Can You See the Pottery Storehouse?

The Nakayama Family Residence Pottery Storehouse stands at the far end of the storehouse row inside the estate and cannot be seen from outside. The residence is a private home and is closed to visitors; the Nakayama Family Residence page explains what can be seen from the street.