The Fine-Timber Storehouse of the Tsukada Residence
If any single building explains how the Tsukada family earned its fortune, it is the great storehouse along the southern edge of the plot. Where the other buildings served the household, this one served the business. It was raised to hold meiboku, prized and figured timber, the stock in trade of a wholesale lumber merchant, and at roughly 152 square metres it is by far the largest of the family's storehouses, a warehouse conceived at the scale of a working trade rather than a home.
The Tsukada shipped timber from the Uzuma River port down toward the Tone River and Edo, and choice logs were an asset worth protecting. Dating from the Taishō period, the storehouse runs east to west under a gabled pantile roof, a long, high volume that dominates the southern side of the compound and gives the whole estate its commercial anchor.
Why This Storehouse Stands Apart
Among the five Tsukada buildings registered together in October 2000, the fine-timber storehouse carries a different mark. Where the others were listed for contributing to the historic landscape, this one was registered under the criterion that it would not be easy to recreate. It is also the only member of the group classed under industry rather than dwelling, a formal recognition that this is, at heart, a piece of commercial architecture.
The building repays a slow walk around its walls. On the garden side to the north, an open-sided lean-to canopy extends the roof outward, while the western end steps down into a lower wing finished with an irimoya hip-and-gable roof, breaking the long mass into a lively silhouette. Three sides, east, south and west, are dressed in white plaster; above the northern canopy the wall shifts to battened weatherboarding, a change of surface that tracks the change in function from public face to service side.
What to Look For
Approach the storehouse and let your eye run its full length before looking at any single feature. The sheer horizontal reach, the shift from plaster to boarding, the lower irimoya wing at the west: these are the moves of a builder handling a very large volume with care rather than filling it in as plain wall. Inside a museum setting, this is the kind of space where the family's collection of rare timber from across the country is shown, returning the building to something close to its original use.
The plot is open as the Tsukada History and Legend Museum, and the fine-timber storehouse is the climax of the circuit along the Uzuma. Seen from the river or the opposite bank, its long plastered flank rising above the water shows why this building, more than any other here, records the trade that built the town.
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Q&A
- What is meiboku, and why did it need its own storehouse?
- Meiboku is prized, finely figured timber. As the merchandise of a lumber wholesaler, it was valuable enough to warrant a large, purpose-built storehouse.
- Why is this storehouse registered under a different criterion?
- Unlike the other four Tsukada buildings, it was listed as a structure that would not be easy to recreate, and it is classed as industrial rather than residential architecture.
- How large is it compared with the other storehouses?
- At about 152 square metres it is much the largest of the family's storehouses, built to the scale of the timber trade itself.
- What are the notable features of its exterior?
- An open lean-to canopy on the north garden side, a lower west wing with a hip-and-gable roof, white plaster on three sides and battened boarding above the northern canopy.
Basic Information
| Name | The Fine-Timber Storehouse of the Tsukada Residence |
|---|---|
| Location | 2-16 Yamato-cho, Tochigi City, Tochigi Prefecture |
| Classification | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registered 18 October 2000) |
| Registration No. | 09-0048 |
| Period | Taishō period (1912 to 1925) |
| Structure | Earthen-walled (dozō), two storeys, tiled roof; building area approx. 152 sq m; one building |
| Owner | Tsukada History and Legend Museum (general incorporated foundation) |
| Access | Open to the public as the Tsukada History and Legend Museum; usually closed Mondays |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties — Fine-Timber Storehouse of the Tsukada Residence
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001894
- Tochigi City Tourism Association — Tsukada History and Legend Museum
- https://www.tochigi-kankou.or.jp/spot/tsukadarekishikan
- Tochigi no Tabi (Tochigi Prefecture Tourism) — Tsukada History and Legend Museum
- https://www.tochigiji.or.jp/spot/s3325
Last verified: 2026.07.03