Onoguchi Family Residence Former Drying Shed

What Is the Onoguchi Family Residence Former Drying Shed?

The Onoguchi Family Residence Former Drying Shed (小野口家住宅旧乾燥小屋, Onoguchi-ke Jūtaku Kyū-kansōgoya) is a single-story stone storage building from the mid-Taisho era in Tanomachi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 14, 1999.

It sits on the southwest edge of the estate, directly against the north side of the nagayamon gatehouse. The roof is tiled and the building covers 37 square meters. As the name says, it was first used to dry leaf tobacco.

It went up when the gatehouse was moved to its present position in the middle of the Taisho era. The Agency for Cultural Affairs ties the date to that move, while Utsunomiya City gives the mid-Taisho date as an estimate.

Built of Solid Stone

The walls of the Onoguchi Family Residence Former Drying Shed are laid up from blocks of Ōya stone. The neighboring gatehouse has a timber frame faced with stone slabs; here the stone itself forms the walls and carries the roof. Utsunomiya City likewise lists the material as stacked Ōya stone.

Most of the Onoguchi storehouses and the gate, built between the late Edo period and the early Meiji years, use stone as a facing. The Taisho drying shed is one of the few built in solid masonry, and together with the late Meiji compost shed it shows how the family's use of stone shifted over time.

The placement of the openings is telling. The doors for loading and storage open to the inside of the estate, toward the main house. The outward face is continuous stone, so from the lane the drying shed reads as a solid block running north from the gate.

Part of the Gatehouse Frontage

The Agency for Cultural Affairs valued the drying shed as a storage building that continues the line of the gatehouse and gives the estate a composed front. It was registered as a model of architectural form under registration number 09-0016.

The gatehouse and the drying shed stand in a north-south row, with the compost shed beyond them across a passage. On the west, which is the front of the property, these three buildings and the stone wall form one continuous face. The Onoguchi drying shed is not a building that catches the eye on its own, but it anchors the side of the gate and keeps the stone frontage unbroken.

How to See It

The former drying shed can be seen from the west side of the estate, standing in line with the gatehouse. Compare its tiled roofline and stacked blocks with the stone-clad, arched gatehouse and you can see how the two structural methods show on the outside.

The inner face with the storage openings is inside the grounds and cannot be seen from outside. Entering the grounds requires the owner's consent, and details on visiting and access are gathered on the Onoguchi Family Residence page.