Former Nakamura Family Residence Storehouse

Former Nakamura Family Residence Storehouse

The Former Nakamura Family Residence Storehouse (旧中村家住宅土蔵, Kyū-Nakamura-ke Jūtaku Dozō) is an 1894 earthen-walled storehouse behind the main house of a village headman's estate in Ōmano-chō, Koshigaya City, Saitama Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 14, 2021. Built in the Dozo-zukuri manner, it rises 2 storeys under a gabled roof (Kirizuma-zukuri) of pantiles and covers 43 square metres.

The ridge runs north to south. A window opens in the south gable, small pent roofs run along three sides, and the walls are finished in white lime plaster. The doorway is on the east side under a lean-to (Geya), closed by a heavy plastered door of the kind known as kakego-nuri.

Inside, each floor is a single boarded room, linked by a box staircase.

Why the Storehouse was registered

The Storehouse was registered as a building that serves as a model of design, one of only two among the six at the Former Nakamura Family Residence to be listed on that basis; the other is the Mitakesha shrine.

What the Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out is the ground floor. The tops of the ōbiki, the heavy sleepers that carry the floor, are brought up flush with the floorboards and left exposed as part of the floor surface. Such beams normally sit hidden below the boards, and the Agency calls this a distinctive feature of the building.

Fire protection is plain to see as well. Koshigaya City's leaflet says the plastered door was shut in emergencies such as fires, sealing the contents in.

The Storehouse was repaired in 2001.

What to look for

Once inside, look down. The upper faces of the sleepers show as bands between the boards, so the structure of the floor becomes its pattern. It is a detail rarely seen in storehouse floors.

At the doorway, note the depth of the plastered door. Normally left open, it was swung shut when fire threatened.

Outside, walk round to the south gable, where the window and the line of pent roofs cast neat shadows across the white wall.

Visiting the Storehouse

Koshigaya City lists the Storehouse among the buildings with displays of household tools. Because parts of the site close on about ten days a year for school visits and events, check with the site in advance if you want to see the upper floor.

The Storehouse stands northwest of the main house, at the back of the homestead. Walk round the west side of the house and you reach its east-facing door.

Opening hours, admission and directions are covered on the Former Nakamura Family Residence page.