Jizoji Temple Hojuin Storehouse

The First Building on the Site

Jizoji Temple Hojuin Storehouse (地蔵寺寳珠院蔵, Jizōji Hōjuin Kura) is a two-storey earthen-walled storehouse (Dozo-zukuri) built in 1903 in Matsushima-cho, Komatsushima City, Tokushima Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 November 2016. It is the oldest of the eight registered properties in the Hojuin residence owned by Jizoji Temple, a year older than the main house.

It stands behind the main house and fills the northwest corner of the lot. The roof is gabled (Kirizuma-zukuri) in round-and-flat Hongawarabuki tiles. The building measures 11 metres by 4.8 metres, with a footprint of 54 square metres.

A veranda runs along its south side and joins it to the annex and the main house. Fireproof storehouses were often set apart from the house to keep fire away; this one is tied into the living quarters instead.

Inside, the ground floor has two rooms and the upper floor one, used for the family's furnishings and household goods.

A Building That Defines the Edge of the Property

The Jizoji Temple Hojuin Storehouse was registered for "contributing to the historic landscape of the country." The official description notes that it shapes the landscape of the site.

The judgment rests less on the storehouse's own decoration than on where it stands. Along the west edge of Hojuin runs an earthen wall 25 metres long, and its north end meets the storehouse's southwest corner. The front wall on the south, the plastered west wall and the storehouse in the northwest corner together close off the south and west sides almost without a gap. The storehouse's thick walls protect what is inside and form part of the compound's perimeter.

The date matters too. The storehouse went up in 1903 and the main house followed in 1904. The family secured a place for its valuables before building the house itself, and the outbuildings, gates and walls came afterward in the Taisho era (1912 to 1926). The story of the property starts here.

What to Look For

In Dozo-zukuri construction a timber frame is packed and rendered with thick layers of clay to resist fire. The gabled roof in round-and-flat tiles matches the main roof of the house, giving this back-lot building a comparable rank.

Look also at the junction with the west wall. Because the wall ends against the corner of the storehouse, wall and storehouse face run on as one surface, and the northwest corner is the most closed-off angle of the whole compound seen from outside.

Seeing the Storehouse

The Jizoji Temple Hojuin Storehouse stands in the northwest corner of the lot, and there are no scheduled openings of its interior. Contact Jizoji Temple beforehand if you would like to see it.

From the west side of the property you can see where the white west wall runs up to the storehouse. Photograph from the road, without disturbing the neighbors.