Onoguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse

What Is the Onoguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse?

The Onoguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse (小野口家住宅裏の蔵, Onoguchi-ke Jūtaku Ura no Kura) is a two-story stone-faced storehouse built in 1825 in Tanomachi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 14, 1999.

It stands to the northeast of the main house, at the back of the compound. An ink inscription gives its date, which makes it the oldest building on the Onoguchi estate. The roof is tiled and it covers just 22 square meters: a compact storehouse rising to two floors.

According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, it is still in use as a store for tableware and household utensils. Close to two centuries after it was built, the storehouse still has a job to do in the family's daily life.

A Timber Frame Wrapped in Stone

From outside the Onoguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse looks like masonry, but it is framed in timber. The posts and beams are wood, and the exterior is clad with thin slabs of Ōya stone; Utsunomiya City also records the material as stone facing.

The roof was originally stone as well. It has since been replaced with tile, but a building covered in stone on both walls and roof suggests that fire protection was foremost in the builders' minds.

The same stone-facing method reappears in the Onoguchi brewery and gatehouse of the Meiji era. The rear storehouse is the earliest dated example on the estate, showing that the family was already building this way in the late Edo period.

A Gable Carried Over From the Old House

The doorway is the feature to look for at the Onoguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse. Over the entrance hangs a canopy with a Noki-karahafu, the undulating cusped gable of Japanese architecture. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records that this canopy came from the kurumayose, the covered carriage porch at the entrance of the former main house, and was moved to the storehouse door.

The main house was later rebuilt and is not among the listed buildings. A fitting that once framed the family's front entrance now survives on the door of a storehouse, and the curve of the gable set against a stone wall is something none of the other Onoguchi storehouses has.

The rear storehouse was registered as a model of architectural form, under registration number 09-0018.

How to See It

The Onoguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse sits deep inside the compound, behind the main house to the northeast. To see the gabled canopy you have to stand in front of the doorway, and very little of the building is visible from outside the estate.

Entering the grounds requires the owner's consent. If you are allowed in, keep in mind that the storehouse is still used by the household. Details on visiting and access are gathered on the Onoguchi Family Residence page.