What the Terada Family Residence Barn is
The Terada Family Residence Barn (寺田家住宅納屋, Terada-ke Jutaku Naya) is a 1936 service building in Shinmachi, Kaizuka City, Osaka Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 25 July 2011. It measures 6.0 metres by 3.0 metres, is timber framed with one storey over a basement under a Yosemune-zukuri roof in Sangawara-buki, and covers 20 square metres.
It stands north of the kitchen entrance at the back of the main house. The ground falls away here, and the Terada Family Residence Barn was set lower than the house, so its upper floor meets the house at ground level while a full storey sits below. The entrance is on the south side, under a canopy.
Inside, the space was divided by use. The western half of the upper floor and the whole basement served as storage, while the eastern half of the upper floor was the odoko-beya, the room for the male servants, fitted with a closet. A sleeping room built into the working wing of an estate says a good deal about how the household ran.
Why the Terada Family Residence Barn was registered
The criterion cited is contribution to the historic landscape. The national database describes the building as one that conveys how servants lived in an old household.
On this estate the main house and the new house handle the public face of domestic life and the storehouses hold property. The Terada Family Residence Barn takes the back-of-house work, storing tools and supplies and housing the people who used them. Buildings of this class are the first to go once they stop being needed, and few early Showa estates keep theirs.
Its registration number is 27-0546. Because all seven structures were registered together, from the main house to the stone wall, both the front and the back of the estate survive. This building is the back.
What to look at
The point of this building is how it uses the slope. Built into falling ground, its upper floor lines up with the main house while a further storey is won underneath. A single-storey building that works as two, with storage volume gained and the walk from the kitchen kept short.
The plan repays attention too. The eastern half of the upper floor was the servants' room and it has a closet built in. Storage provided where working people slept is a concrete detail about daily life, and it shows the Terada Family Residence Barn was never simply a shed.
Sources differ on how the storeys are counted. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database records the Terada Family Residence Barn as single storey over a basement, while Kaizuka City calls it two storeyed. The difference appears to be whether the lower level counts as a storey. This article follows the national database.
Seeing the Terada Family Residence Barn
The Terada Family Residence Barn is privately owned and closed to visitors. Standing behind the main house on the north side, it is hidden from Prefectural Route 204 by the house itself.
From the lane along the north edge of the estate its low hipped roof of pantiles is sometimes visible. This is an ordinary residential street, though, with few places to stop and look. The basement level of the Terada Family Residence Barn faces into the grounds and cannot be seen at all.
Photograph from the public road only, and give the neighbouring houses their privacy. Directions and the conditions for visiting the estate as a whole are set out on the page for the Terada Family Residence in Kaizuka.
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Q&A
- What kind of building is the Terada Family Residence Barn?
- A timber service building of 1936, 6.0 metres by 3.0 metres, one storey over a basement, with a hipped pantile roof and a floor area of 20 square metres.
- Why does the Terada Family Residence Barn have a basement?
- Because the ground slopes. The building sits lower than the main house, so its upper floor meets the house while another level fits beneath.
- What was the servants' room in the Terada Family Residence Barn?
- A room used by the male servants of the household. It occupied the eastern half of the upper floor and was fitted with a closet.
- Do sources disagree about the Terada Family Residence Barn?
- On the number of storeys, yes. The national database says one storey over a basement, Kaizuka City says two storeys.
- Can the Terada Family Residence Barn be visited?
- No. The interior is closed, and because the building stands behind the main house it is not visible from the old highway.
Basic Information
| Name | Terada Family Residence Barn |
|---|---|
| Location | 506 Shinmachi, Kaizuka City, Osaka Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 25 July 2011 (Heisei 23) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 6.0 metres by 3.0 metres, floor area 20 square metres |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Not open to the public; exterior only |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Terada Family Residence Barn (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008735
- Terada Family Residence (Kaizuka City)
- https://www.city.kaizuka.lg.jp/bunkazai/bunkazaidata/bunkazai/kuni_sitei/tourokubunkazai/teradake.html
Last verified: 2026.09.23
