What the Akada Family Residence Storage Shed Is
The Akada Family Residence Storage Shed (赤田家住宅物置, Akada-ke Jūtaku Monooki) is a single-storey timber outbuilding of about 1967 in Otamachi, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture, entered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 6 August 2025. With a tiled roof over just 16 square metres, it is both the youngest and the smallest of the five Akada family buildings on the register.
It stands southwest of the main house, in line with the main gate, with its ridge running east to west. The gable roof is laid with Sangawara-buki tiles. The upper walls are finished in rough clay and sheathed in sheet iron, while the lower walls are clad in overlapping Shitami-itabari weatherboards.
Why It Was Listed
The Akada Family Residence Storage Shed was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs values it for forming, together with the main gate, the street front of the property. It was listed for the part it plays in the face of the estate, not for any great age of its own.
Buildings normally become eligible for registration once they are 50 years old. Put up around 1967, the shed was about 58 years old when it was listed. That a late Edo gate and this postwar shed were registered on the same day shows how the front of the Akada property is built out of buildings from very different periods.
For a structure of that date, the methods are strikingly traditional: rough clay walls, lapped weatherboards, a roof of interlocking tiles. Only the sheet iron speaks of the new era. The shed shows that the way farm outbuildings were made carried on well into the Showa period.
What to Look For
Look first at how the walls of the Akada Family Residence Storage Shed change with height. The lower band of lapped boards sheds rainwater and takes the splash from the ground. Above it, the clay wall is covered in sheet iron. Wood, earth and iron layer up in one small building.
Then step back to see it beside the main gate. The low tiled shed sits next to the tall thatched gate, and the difference in height and roofing gives the street front a sense of depth.
Inside are two earth-floored rooms, east and west, open to the roof framing with no ceiling. There are two doorways, one in the west gable and one toward the east end of the north side, each closed by a plank door. It is a plain, practical plan made for moving tools and harvests in and out.
Visiting
The Akada Family Residence Storage Shed is an outbuilding of a private home and its interior is not open. Neither the Agency for Cultural Affairs nor Nagahama City lists any opening days or booking route (checked 27 September 2026).
Because it forms the street front together with the main gate, the shed is one of the easier buildings to see from outside. Keep to the public road and do not enter the property. The Agency's online database publishes an exterior photograph taken from the northwest and an interior view from the west.
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- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Akada Family Residence Storage Shed
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Q&A
- When was the Akada Family Residence Storage Shed built?
- Around 1967. It is the newest of the five Akada family buildings on the register.
- Can visitors go inside the Akada Family Residence Storage Shed?
- No. It is an outbuilding of a private home and the interior is closed, with no opening days or booking route announced (checked 27 September 2026).
- Why is a postwar building like the Akada Family Residence Storage Shed a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- Buildings normally qualify once they are 50 years old, and this shed meets that condition. It was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape, as it forms the street front of the estate together with the main gate.
- How are the walls of the Akada Family Residence Storage Shed finished?
- The upper walls are rough clay covered in sheet iron, and the lower walls are clad in lapped weatherboards.
- What is inside the Akada Family Residence Storage Shed?
- Two earth-floored rooms, east and west, open to the roof framing. Doorways are in the west gable and toward the east end of the north side.
Basic Information
| Name | Akada Family Residence Storage Shed (赤田家住宅物置) |
|---|---|
| Location | 133 Otamachi, Nagahama City, Shiga Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register no. 25-0528 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2025/8/6 (Reiwa 7) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Wooden, single storey, tiled roof, building area 16 square metres |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Closed. Exterior visible from the public road |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Akada Family Residence Storage Shed (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00015472
- Nagahama City, List of Designated and Registered Cultural Properties (as of 6 August 2025)
- https://www.city.nagahama.lg.jp/cmsfiles/contents/0000014/14176/ichirann.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.26
