Kirihata Family Residence Storehouse

A Storehouse from 1716

The Kirihata Family Residence Storehouse (桐畑家住宅土蔵) is the storehouse of a town house (machiya) of 1716 in Chuo, Otsu City, Shiga Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on April 28, 2010 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a 2-storey storehouse of clay-walled construction with a tiled roof and a building area of 38 square metres; registration number 25-0286.

A Mid-Edo Storehouse at the Back of the Plot

The Kirihata Family Residence Storehouse stands at the southern end of the plot, beyond the annex, with its front to the north. It is a two-storey clay-walled storehouse with a gabled roof of traditional round-and-flat tiles, measuring 6.4 by 6.0 metres (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The walls are finished in white plaster, and their lower part is clad high up with vertical boards. A pent roof shelters the doorway on the north side; inside, the walls are bare clay and the floor is beaten earth (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

Citing its date of 1716, the Agency describes the Kirihata Family Residence Storehouse as an example of a storehouse going back to the middle of the Edo period, and registered it as contributing to the historic landscape of the country. It is the oldest of the three registered buildings, more than 150 years older than the mid-Meiji main house.

On October 1, 2024, Otsu City named the storehouse, with the main house and annex, its Historic Landscape Building No. 2 (Otsu City).

What to Look For

At the Kirihata Family Residence Storehouse, look at the northwest corner: it is cut away, eaves and all, so the building does not read as a plain box (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The pairing of white plaster with tall vertical boarding along the lower walls is another feature, and the roof is laid with heavy round-and-flat tiles of the traditional kind.

Visiting

The Kirihata Family Residence Storehouse stands at the southern end of the plot, beyond the annex, and does not face Hama-dori. It is privately owned, and no official information on interior access was found.