What Is the Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building?
The Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building (旧塩屋出店洋館, Kyū-Shioya Demise Yōkan) is a two-storey timber house in a Western manner, built around 1935 in Chizu-juku, the old post town of Chizu, Yazu District, Tottori Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 4 December 2000. It has a gabled roof of Sangawara-buki tile, Shitami-itabari clapboard walls, and a footprint of 25 square meters.
It stands at the back of the Former Shioya Demise property, the home of a branch of the Ishitani merchant family, and since 2001 it has housed the Katsumi Nishikawa Film Museum, devoted to a film director born in Chizu.
Sources disagree slightly on its date. The town's guide says Aizō, the fourth head of the household, built it behind the main house around 1930. This page follows the national database, which gives around 1935.
Stick Style Details on a Small House
The Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building was registered as a model of architectural form, and the reason is its exterior. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the window surrounds are treated as pilasters, giving the house a look close to the Stick Style.
The Stick Style was an American way of building wooden houses in the later 19th century, in which the posts and beams of the frame are expressed on the outside of the walls. Here, vertical strips run up over the horizontal clapboards and double as the window frames. The walls read as a grid of verticals and horizontals, which keeps a small building looking crisp and deliberate.
The house rests on cut-stone footings. According to the town's guide, the upper storey has a gabled roof with a small boarded soffit under the eaves, and a single-pitch roof covers a lower wing on the north side. The Chizu Town Tourism Association describes the tiles as shallow wave-profile tiles.
A Little Two-Storey House Behind the Townhouse
The Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building sits near the middle of the lot, toward its south side, just east of the kamaya kitchen wing that projects from the southeast end of the main house. Walking back from the timber townhouse through the garden, you come upon its clapboard walls quite suddenly.
The town's guide gives its size as 3 ken by 2.5 ken, about 5.5 by 4.5 meters. On the ground floor the entrance is at the northwest corner, with a staff office to the south and the exhibition room to the east. The stair is on the west side, with a storeroom north of it. Upstairs there is a single room with double casement windows on all four walls.
The barn stands right against its east side. The ridge of the Western-style building is set slightly off the lot's grid, and the barn follows the same line.
From Church to Film Museum
After the Second World War a pastor was sent to the Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building and it served as a church. The town's guide adds that it held a Sunday school meant to broaden local children's cultural horizons.
In 2000 the roof and the outer walls of the lower wing were repaired. That same year the director Katsumi Nishikawa donated his film materials to the town, and the building was fitted out as a museum in his name, opening in 2001.
Nishikawa was born in 1918, worked for the Shochiku and Nikkatsu studios, directed 66 films in all, and died in 2010. His 1966 Nikkatsu film Zesshō was shot on location in Chizu. The exhibition room displays posters, scripts, production stills and letters from actors and filmmakers, including material from Aoi Sanmyaku, Izu no Odoriko and Shiosai.
Visiting the Film Museum
The Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building is open as the Katsumi Nishikawa Film Museum, and admission is free. Enter by the entrance to the left of, that is north of, the main house door and follow the path through the garden. As in the main house, shoes come off at the entrance.
Visitors see the ground-floor exhibition room; the office is private. The upstairs room is normally closed and is used for occasional film screenings.
The exterior is best seen from the garden. Stand near the northwest corner and you can take in the entrance, the lean-to roof on the north side, and the pilasters that divide the clapboard walls into bays.
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Q&A
- When was the Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building built?
- Around 1935, according to the national database. The town's guide says Aizō, the fourth head of the family, built it around 1930.
- What style is the Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building?
- It is a two-storey clapboard house with a gabled tile roof. Its window surrounds are treated as pilasters, a detail close to the American Stick Style.
- How is the Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building used today?
- Since 2001 it has been the Katsumi Nishikawa Film Museum. After the war it was used as a church and Sunday school.
- Is there an admission fee for the film museum in the Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building?
- No, entry is free. Go in by the entrance to the left of the main house door, cross the garden, and remove your shoes at the door.
- Can I go upstairs in the Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building?
- The upstairs room is usually closed and is opened for occasional screenings. The ground-floor exhibition room is open during normal hours.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building (旧塩屋出店洋館, Kyū-Shioya Demise Yōkan) |
|---|---|
| Location | 545 Chizu, Chizu Town, Yazu District, Tottori Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), Registration No. 31-0038 |
| Year Designated | 2000 (registered 4 December 2000) |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | Timber, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 25 square meters |
| Owner | Chizu Town |
| Public Access | Open as the Katsumi Nishikawa Film Museum (free admission, closed Wednesdays) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00002090
- Former Shioya Demise Western-Style Building (Cultural Heritage Online)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/186820
- Katsumi Nishikawa Film Museum (Shioya Demise and Katsumi Nishikawa Film Museum, in Japanese)
- https://shioyademise.okoshi-yasu.com/film.html
- Katsumi Nishikawa Film Museum (Chizu Town Tourism Association, in Japanese)
- https://chizukankou-kurashiya.jp/highlight/places/eigakinenkan/
Last verified: 2026.09.28
