A Three-Storey Fireproof Shop From Ogose's Silk Years
The Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse (岡野家住宅店蔵, Okano-ke Jūtaku Misegura) is a three-storey, clay-walled dozō-zukuri shop building of 1915 in Ogose Town, Iruma District, Saitama Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 8 July 2008.
A misegura is a shop built like a fireproof storehouse, thick earthen walls finished in plaster, so that the business and its stock could survive the fires that swept through Japanese market towns. This one stands at 796 Aza-Machi, Oaza-Ogose, facing west onto the street. It has a gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles over a plan of 3 and a half bays by 3 and a half bays, with a lean-to 1 bay deep across the front, and a building area of 53 square meters.
Ogose Town notes that a three-storey storehouse-style shop is rare in any context.
Why It Was Registered
The Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse carries registration number 11-0121 and was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The storehouse at the back of the plot was registered the same day as 11-0122.
The town presents the building as a record of Ogose's prosperity when the silk trade filled its streets. Ogose grew on brokering raw silk, and according to the town a silk market opened in the centre in 1900. The Okano family put up their three-storey shop 15 years later.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the design rich in ornament. That is the heart of the case: a building whose first job was to resist fire, given a street front worth looking at.
What to Look For
A Black Plaster Front
When the Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse was new, its walls were finished in black lacquer-like plaster, a polished finish that took real labour and announced the standing of the business. The storehouse behind it is white. Black was kept for the building that faced the customers.
Tortoiseshell in Copper
The ground-floor shutter boxes, where the storm shutters are stowed, are faced with copper sheet worked into a broken tortoiseshell pattern, a hexagonal lattice deliberately disrupted. A practical fitting has been made into ornament, and on the ground floor it sits close to anyone standing in the street.
Eaves That Change by Floor
The eaves are carried on projecting beams in the dashigeta style, and only the second floor shows imitation rafter ends beneath them. Read the facade from the street upward and each storey turns out to be treated a little differently.
The White Storehouse Behind
East of the shop, at the back of the long, narrow plot typical of merchant properties, stands a white-walled two-storey storehouse, 6.3 meters by 3.6 meters, with a building area of 28 square meters. It is thought to have been built between the late Edo and Meiji periods, with completion of work recorded in 1917, and it has a small bathhouse of 3.3 meters by 1.6 meters attached to the southwest of its entrance. Black shop at the street, white store at the rear: the layout shows how a merchant used a deep, thin lot.
Visiting
The Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse is privately owned, and neither Ogose Town nor the Agency for Cultural Affairs lists any opening of the interior. Because the shop faces the street, its front can be seen from the public road. Please stay off the property, be considerate of residents and neighbours, and photograph only from the street.
The address is 796 Aza-Machi, Oaza-Ogose, Ogose Town, Iruma District, Saitama Prefecture. By rail, Ogose Station, served by the Tobu Ogose Line and the JR Hachiko Line, is the gateway to the town. Questions about cultural properties go to the cultural properties desk of the Lifelong Learning Division of the Ogose Town Board of Education.
Q&A
- Can you go inside the Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse?
- No opening of the interior was found. The Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse is privately owned, and its street front is seen from the public road. The Ogose Town Board of Education handles enquiries about cultural properties.
- When was the Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse built and registered?
- It was built in 1915 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on 8 July 2008, under number 11-0121.
- How is the Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse built and how big is it?
- It is a three-storey clay-walled storehouse-style building with a tiled roof and a building area of 53 square meters. The gabled pantile roof covers 3 and a half bays by 3 and a half bays, with a lean-to 1 bay deep at the front.
- What details of the Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse are worth looking for?
- The broken tortoiseshell pattern in copper on the ground-floor shutter boxes, and the dashigeta eaves, which show imitation rafters only at the second floor. The walls were originally finished in black plaster.
- Is anything else at the Okano Family Residence registered?
- Yes, the storehouse at the back of the plot, registered on the same day, 8 July 2008, as number 11-0122. It is a white-walled two-storey storehouse of 28 square meters, thought to date from between the late Edo and Meiji periods, with a small bathhouse attached.
Basic Information
| Name | Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse (岡野家住宅店蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 796 Aza-Machi, Oaza-Ogose, Ogose Town, Iruma District, Saitama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2008/7/8 (Heisei 20) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 3-storey clay-walled storehouse structure, tiled roof, building area 53 square meters |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Interior not open (exterior visible from the street) |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007188
- National Cultural Properties Database, Okano Family Residence Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007189
- Cultural Heritage Online, Okano Family Residence Shop Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/191910
- Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Ogose Town)
- https://www.town.ogose.saitama.jp/kamei/shogaigakushu/bunkazai/ogosebunkazai/1456450491163.html
Last verified: 2026.10.01