What Is the Harada Family Residence Store?
The Harada Family Residence Store (原田家住宅店舗, Harada-ke Jūtaku Tenpo) is a two-storey timber shop of around 1920 in Tori 6-chome, Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on November 10, 2005 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
The Agency records a two-storey timber building with a tile roof and a building area of 45 square metres, built around 1920 and relocated by hikiya in 1978; registration number 09-0122.
A Yarn Dealer's Shop Facing the Old Route 50
The Harada Family Residence Store faces north onto the old National Route 50 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Ashikaga City explains that the Harada family opened for business around 1897 as dealers in raw silk and twisted yarn, and that the store is said to date from around 1920.
It measures 3.5 ken along the ridge and 2.5 ken in depth. 1 ken is roughly 1.8 metres, so the frontage is a little over 6 metres: a modest shop. The roof is a gable roof of pantiles, entered on the long side in the arrangement called Hirairi, and a lean-to canopy half a ken deep runs across the front (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Why It Was Registered
The Harada Family Residence Store was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The Agency judges that it preserves well the form of the Degeta-zukuri shop, a type built in great numbers between the Meiji era and the early Showa years, and that it conveys how the street once looked.
A type that was once everywhere is also the type most easily lost to road widening and rebuilding. In its note on the Yanagida Family Residence Office next door, the Agency adds that the two shops together recall the years when the textile industry flourished.
Projecting Eaves and Clapboard Walls
In degeta-zukuri construction, brackets reach out beyond the wall plate and carry a second beam, pushing the eaves far forward. Merchant houses across the Kanto region used it. On the Harada Family Residence Store a lean-to half a ken deep crosses the front (Agency for Cultural Affairs), giving the shopfront a strip of ground that stays dry in rain.
The walls are clad in overlapping horizontal boards (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The Yanagida office next door combines plaster with boarding and dresses the base of its windows in granite; the record for the Harada Family Residence Store mentions neither stone nor plaster. This is a plain front of timber and tile.
What to Look For
Start with the eaves of the upper floor of the Harada Family Residence Store. Degeta-zukuri leaves its brackets and outer beam exposed on the underside, so the construction can be read by looking up from the pavement.
Then consider the scale. A shop 3.5 ken wide with a building area of 45 square metres is joined at the back to a main house of 121 square metres (Agency for Cultural Affairs). A modest face to the street and a home extending behind it: the difference in those figures shows how a merchant family used its plot.
Visiting
Because the Harada Family Residence Store stands on the street, its front can be seen from the pavement. No official information was found on interior access or on photography. The building is privately owned (Ashikaga City), so stay off the property.
Its present position dates from 1978, when the widening of the old Route 50 led to the building being moved about 4 metres by hikiya (Ashikaga City). Directions from the nearest stations are on the page for the Harada Family Residence (Ashikaga).
Q&A
- When was the Harada Family Residence Store built?
- Around 1920. Ashikaga City describes it as "said to have been built around" that year.
- Can I visit the Harada Family Residence Store?
- It faces the old Route 50 and its exterior can be seen from the pavement. No official information on interior access was found.
- What does degeta-zukuri mean at the Harada Family Residence Store?
- It is a way of building in which brackets carry an outer beam so that the eaves project deeply. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says the store preserves this shop type well.
- Is the Harada Family Residence Store on its original site?
- No. In 1978 it was moved about 4 metres by hikiya when the old Route 50 was widened (Ashikaga City).
- When was the Harada Family Residence Store registered?
- On November 10, 2005 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Basic Information
| Name | Harada Family Residence Store (原田家住宅店舗) |
|---|---|
| Location | 6-3225-1 Tori, Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered November 10, 2005 (Heisei 17) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, 2 storeys, tile roof, building area 45 m², 3.5 ken by 2.5 ken |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Public Access | Exterior visible from the street; no information on interior access |
References
- Harada Family Residence Store (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004914
- Harada Family Residence Store (Cultural Heritage Online, Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/117794
- Harada Family Residence: Store and Main House (Ashikaga City, Japanese)
- https://www.city.ashikaga.tochigi.jp/education/000029/000169/000627/p000813.html
- Registered Tangible Cultural Properties, Structures (Ashikaga City, Japanese)
- https://www.city.ashikaga.tochigi.jp/education/000029/000169/000627/p001307.html
- Harada Family Residence Store (Tochigi no Bunkazai, Tochigi Prefecture, Japanese)
- https://bunkazai.pref.tochigi.lg.jp/cultural/%E3%80%90%E5%8E%9F%E7%94%B0%E5%AE%B6%E4%BD%8F%E5%AE%85%E5%BA%97%E8%88%97%E3%80%91/
- Yanagida Family Residence Office (Cultural Heritage Online, Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/181136
Last verified: 2026.11.11
