Yamano Family Residence Storehouse

About the Yamano Family Residence Storehouse

The Yamano Family Residence Storehouse (山野家住宅蔵, Yamano-ke Jūtaku Kura) is a Taisho-era Dozo-zukuri storehouse joined to the back of the main house in a sake-brewing family's compound in Kisabe, Katano City, Osaka Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2003.

To tell it apart from the brewing sheds, it is sometimes called the domestic storehouse. Tradition holds that it was built new, to hold the household's furnishings and heirlooms, when the main house was moved here from Neyagawa. It has a gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) roof set on top of the clay body as a separate Okiyane, covered in Hongawarabuki round-and-flat tiling, and walls sealed in Shikkui plaster. With a footprint of just 39 square metres, it is the smallest of the six registered structures.

Why It Was Registered

The storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the Yamano Family Residence Storehouse indispensable, alongside Sake Brewery 1 and Sake Brewery 4, to the distinctive street front of the compound.

The primary sources disagree on its height. The structure field of the Agency's database lists it as 2 storeys, while the commentary on the same page says 3. Either way, it is a tall building on a very small footprint.

An okiyane is a roof built as a separate unit and set on top of the plastered clay body. The air gap between the two keeps summer heat from soaking into the store, and in a fire the roof can burn away while the body survives. Here the roof is finished in hongawarabuki, the heavier system of alternating round and flat tiles, whereas the brewery buildings use simpler pantiles. For the store that held the family's valuables, the more demanding roof was chosen.

What to Look For

What sets the Yamano Family Residence Storehouse apart is its direct link to the house. It opens off the veranda behind the inner guest rooms, so tableware and furnishings for entertaining could be brought out and put away with ease. The arrangement fits the tradition that it was built at the same time the main house was moved here.

From the street, it is the southernmost of the three gables in a row. Its footprint is far smaller than that of Sake Brewery 4 or Sake Brewery 1, but its height lets the gable stand clear above the earthen wall. Compare the heavy lines of the tiled roof with the plain plastered walls below.

Visiting

The Yamano Family Residence Storehouse is a private store used together with the family's home, and the interior is not open to the public. Only its gable and roof, seen over the earthen wall from the street on the west side of the compound, are visible.

Take photographs from the public road and do not enter the grounds. As the building adjoins living quarters, please avoid any shots that peer into the property.