A Brick Store Dressed as a Kura
The Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse (旧新井製糸所煉瓦蔵, Kyū Arai Seishijo Renga-gura) is a two-storey brick storehouse from the late Meiji era at the Former Arai Silk Mill in Nowata, Nogi Town, Tochigi Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 25 July 2011.
It continues south from the plaster storehouse and, like its neighbour, faces east. A north-to-south Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof in Sangawara-buki tiles sits over a plan 15 metres long and 4.7 metres deep. With a building area of 69 square metres it is the largest of the three registered buildings at the old mill. It was renovated in 1991 and again in 2002.
Its length is more than 3 times its depth, so the east front presents a long, unbroken run of brick wall.
Why It Was Registered
The Arai Brick Storehouse was registered for contributing to the historic landscape. Its walls were laid with bricks fired by the Shimotsuke Renga Seizō Kaisha in Nogi itself, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs presents it as a building that records the modernisation of the district.
What makes it more than a plain brick shed is the way it borrows the look of a Dozo-zukuri earthen storehouse. A drip course runs across the middle of the wall, and the band beneath the eaves is built up as a cornice stepped out in 3 tiers. Both are details familiar from plastered kura; here they are rendered in brick, as if the builders were bending a new material toward a shape everyone already knew.
The Tone River Upstream Office's guide to the area mentions a brick sericulture building made with bricks from the Nogi kiln, but it does not say whether this is the building it means. No official record of the storehouse's original use has been found.
What to Look At
English bond along 15 metres
The walls are laid in English bond, courses of long brick faces alternating with courses of brick ends. Along the east front, which runs the full 15 metres, the banding reads especially clearly.
The mid-wall drip course
Halfway up the wall runs a Mizukiri, the ledge that on an earthen storehouse throws rainwater clear of the plaster below. On the Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse it divides the brick facade into an upper and a lower half.
The stepped eaves band
Under the eaves, the Hachimaki band projects in 3 stepped tiers, each casting its own line of shadow. It is a standard treatment on the eaves of plastered storehouses, reproduced here in brick.
Compared with the plaster storehouse
Next door to the north, the plaster storehouse uses brick only for its ground floor and finishes the upper storey in white plaster. The Arai Brick Storehouse is brick from top to bottom and keeps the earthen-store tradition only in its details. Built with bricks from the same company, the two show different ways of folding brick into the kura.
Visiting
The Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse stands within a private residence, and as of October 2026 there was no regular arrangement for viewing the interior.
Whether the long east front, the drip course and the eaves band can be seen from outside the property has not been confirmed. Please do not enter the grounds.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Tochigi
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse
- [ Nikko Toshogu Shrine & Kegon Falls Day Trip ]
Q&A
- When was the Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse built?
- It dates from the late Meiji era and was renovated in 1991 and 2002. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 25 July 2011.
- How big is the Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse?
- It is a two-storey brick building measuring 15 metres by 4.7 metres, with a building area of 69 square metres, the largest of the three registered buildings at the site.
- Where were the bricks of the Arai Brick Storehouse made?
- They were made by the Shimotsuke Renga Seizō Kaisha, a brick company in Nogi Town, and are laid in English bond.
- What are the distinctive features of the Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse?
- A gabled tile roof, a drip course across the middle of the wall and a 3-tier stepped band under the eaves, details borrowed from traditional earthen storehouses and rendered in brick.
- Can I visit the Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse?
- It stands within a private residence, and as of October 2026 there was no regular arrangement for viewing the interior. Please do not enter the grounds.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse (旧新井製糸所煉瓦蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 328-1 Nowata, Nogi Town, Shimotsuga District, Tochigi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2011/7/25 (Heisei 23) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Brick, 2 storeys, tiled roof, 15 metres by 4.7 metres, building area 69 square metres |
| Owner | Private (owner field blank in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Private residence, not open (the site's buildings and papers are reported to be shown on an irregular basis) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse (Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008647
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Arai Silk Mill Brick Storehouse (Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/184148
- MLIT Kanto Regional Development Bureau, Tone River Upstream Office: Watarase Retarding Basin Eco-Network 100 Sites, Arai Family Hometown Memorial Hall (PDF, Japanese)
- https://www.ktr.mlit.go.jp/ktr_content/content/000764577.pdf
Last verified: 2026.10.08
