Former Kitamuro Hospital Storehouse

What Is the Former Kitamuro Hospital Storehouse?

The Former Kitamuro Hospital Storehouse (旧北室醫院土蔵, Kyū Kitamuro Iin Dozō) is a 2-storey earthen-walled storehouse of 1878 in Handa, Tsurugi Town, Tokushima Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 17, 2020. It was built to keep the raw materials of herbal medicine, and it is the oldest of the 7 Kitamuro structures.

The Kitamuro Storehouse stands east of the clinic, facing south, with a building area of just 31 square meters. It is the smallest building on the site, and the only one that shows the practice as it was a mere 10 years after the family began seeing patients in 1868.

Why the Former Kitamuro Hospital Storehouse Was Registered

The Former Kitamuro Hospital Storehouse was entered on the register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as plain on the outside but a building that supported the working of the practice.

What gives it meaning is that it is a storehouse on a doctor's premises. Herbal practice depends on a steady supply of dried roots, barks and other crude drugs, kept dry and free of insects. This was, in effect, the practice's warehouse, holding the ingredients that were compounded in the dispensary of the main house. It went up 23 years before the main house of 1901, and it backed the Kitamuro family's work as herbal doctors from the earliest stage.

What to Look For at the Kitamuro Storehouse

White walls sealed up to the eaves

The storehouse is built in the Dozo-zukuri manner, with thick earthen walls finished in lime plaster (Shikkui) that is carried right up under the eaves. Wrapping even the underside of the overhang in plaster, where you would normally see rafters, is the standard way a Japanese storehouse keeps fire from getting in beneath the roof. Stand under the eaves and look up at an angle to see how far the plaster goes.

Two kinds of tile

The main roof is laid in heavy round-and-flat tiles (Hongawarabuki), while a deep lean-to (Geya) across the front is covered in lighter pan tiles (Sangawara-buki). The deep front roof probably gave shelter for opening the doors and moving goods in and out on rainy days.

An interior lined with iron sheet

Inside, the floors are boarded, and the walls and ceilings are lined with iron sheet to divide the space into compartments fitted with storage shelves. Adding a metal lining inside walls of clay and plaster suggests how carefully the family guarded the herbal stock kept here.

Seeing the Former Kitamuro Hospital Storehouse

The exterior of the Former Kitamuro Hospital Storehouse can be seen east of the clinic once you are inside the grounds on a guided visit booked with the Former Kitamuro Hospital Medical Museum. The small white storehouse under its heavy tiles makes a clear contrast with the Western-style clinic beside it.

The museum's website does not say whether the iron-lined interior is shown. If you want to look inside, ask when you book. Booking and transport details are on the Former Kitamuro Hospital page.