Takahashi Family Residence Indigo Fermenting House (East Barn)

What Is the Takahashi Family Residence Indigo Fermenting House?

The Takahashi Family Residence Indigo Fermenting House (East Barn) (高橋家住宅藍寝床（東納屋）, Takahashi-ke Jūtaku Ainedoko, Higashi Naya) in Minamiyamicho, Tokushima City, is a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof, built in the early Meiji period for making indigo dye and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 23, 1999. It stands in the southeast corner of the plot, southeast of the main house, and covers 121 square meters.

In Tokushima a nedoko, literally a "bed," is the room where indigo leaves are fermented into the dye paste called sukumo. Aizumi Town's museum explains the process: dried leaves are heaped in the nedoko in autumn, watered, and turned about twenty times over roughly a hundred days until the paste is ready. The Takahashi Family Residence Indigo Fermenting House is where the family carried out that work.

Why the Indigo Fermenting House Was Registered

The building was registered as a contributor to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that part of its exterior has been altered in recent years, yet still counts it among the main buildings that show how an indigo-producing farm was laid out.

At the Takahashi Family Residence the main house is an Edo-period farmhouse, while the Indigo Fermenting House was added in the early Meiji period, giving physical form to the moment a former samurai family took up indigo as its trade.

What to Notice at the Takahashi Indigo Fermenting House

The shape is a two-storey core with wide working eaves projecting on the south and west. The working floor under those eaves is where the building's purpose shows most clearly.

The walls are clad in overlapping horizontal weatherboards, which sets the Takahashi Family Residence Indigo Fermenting House visibly apart from the plastered dozo-zukuri west barn and storehouse. Some wall sections have been redone in recent years, so look for the contrast between old boards and newer finishes.

The east end of the neribei wall meets its west face, and the building closes off the eastern end of the property's front.

Visiting the Takahashi Family Residence Indigo Fermenting House

The Takahashi Family Residence Indigo Fermenting House belongs to a private home and its interior is not open. As of October 2026 no tours or open days had been announced.

Because it sits in the southeast corner and joins the front wall, part of it may be visible from outside. View it without entering the grounds.