Onoguchi Family Residence Front Storehouse

What Is the Onoguchi Family Residence Front Storehouse?

The Onoguchi Family Residence Front Storehouse (小野口家住宅前の蔵, Onoguchi-ke Jūtaku Mae no Kura) is a two-story stone-faced storehouse from the late Edo period in Tanomachi, Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 14, 1999.

It stands in the southeast corner of the estate. Most of the family's listed buildings line the west and north sides; the front storehouse alone sits apart in the opposite corner. The roof is tiled and it covers 20 square meters, the smallest of the Onoguchi Family Residence buildings.

It was built in the late Edo period and moved to its present spot in the late Meiji era. Utsunomiya City treats the Edo date as an estimate.

Faced in Tage Stone

The Onoguchi Family Residence Front Storehouse has a timber frame clad with thin stone slabs. The stone is Tage stone (田下石, Tage-ishi), which the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes as a variety of Ōya stone. According to Utsunomiya City, it comes from the foot of Mount Taki on the west side of the city.

A report by Utsunomiya University researchers describes Tage stone as fine-grained and usually free of the brown or green flecks, known as miso, that are common in Ōya stone. On an estate where most buildings wear Ōya stone, the front storehouse is finished in stone from a different source.

Utsunomiya City notes that the base is built of stacked stone. Slabs on the walls, solid blocks at the foot: the one small storehouse uses both methods.

Stepped Eaves and a Stone Roof

The other feature the Agency for Cultural Affairs highlights is the eaves. They are corbelled out in several steps, like the folds of a bellows, so the wall steps outward toward the roof. The technique is known as Nokijabara, and it gives the little storehouse a shadowed line beneath its roof.

The roof was originally covered with Ōya stone. Stone on both walls and roof is something the front storehouse shares with the rear storehouse elsewhere on the estate.

The front storehouse was registered as a model of architectural form, under registration number 09-0015.

How to See It

The front storehouse is in the southeast corner. The stone wall encloses every side of the estate except the south, and the storehouse lies away from the western frontage where the gatehouse stands, so you will need a different vantage point from the one you use for the gate.

The fine texture of the Tage stone and the stepped eaves only become clear up close. Entering the grounds requires the owner's consent, and details on visiting and access are gathered on the Onoguchi Family Residence page.