Former Nakamura Family Residence Stone Storehouse

Former Nakamura Family Residence Stone Storehouse

The Former Nakamura Family Residence Stone Storehouse (旧中村家住宅石蔵, Kyū-Nakamura-ke Jūtaku Ishigura) is a masonry store built between 1926 and 1945, in the early Shōwa period, southeast of the main house on a village headman's estate in Ōmano-chō, Koshigaya City, Saitama Prefecture; it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 14, 2021. It is a single-storey stone building with a gabled roof (Kirizuma-zukuri) of pantiles, covering 37 square metres.

The ridge runs east to west. A lean-to (Geya) on the west side shelters the doorway, and there is one window each in the west and south walls. Inside is a single room with a stone-paved earth floor, open above to a traditional roof frame (Wagoya) with its beams doubled.

According to Koshigaya City's leaflet, the stone is Bōshū stone, quarried in southern Chiba, and the building served as a rice store.

Why the Stone Storehouse was registered

The Stone Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that it forms part of the view at the southeast corner of the grounds; it is on your right as you come through the gatehouse.

The masonry itself earns attention. The stone is laid with care right up to the cornice under the eaves, so even the moulded band there is cut from stone. On an estate otherwise built of timber and earthen plaster, a stone store added in the Shōwa era shows the family still investing in the homestead.

The Stone Storehouse was repaired in 2001.

What to look for

Outside, follow the stone cornice as it runs beneath the eaves. The projecting band ties all four walls together.

Inside, look at the walls. The leaflet explains that timber frames were built against them so that stacked bales of rice would not touch the stone and draw damp from it, a practical fix for storing grain in a masonry building.

Then look up at the doubled beams of the roof frame; the Agency's record photographs its western half.

Visiting the Stone Storehouse

Koshigaya City lists the Stone Storehouse among the buildings with displays of household tools. The door is on the west side, facing the front yard of the main house.

Parts of the site close on about ten days a year for school visits and events. Opening hours, admission and directions are covered on the Former Nakamura Family Residence page.