Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Annex

What the Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Annex Is

The Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Annex (立川吉村家住宅付属棟, Tachikawa Yoshimura-ke Jūtaku Fuzokutō) is a mid-Meiji single-storey building at the far end of the lane beyond the rice storehouse in Tachikawa-cho, Tottori City, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on July 23, 1998.

It is a timber building with a tiled roof and a footprint of 69 square meters, made up of a workshop for carpenters and plasterers and a room for the head clerk, or bantō.

Its record also notes a move in 1936, so the annex seems to have been shifted by Hikiya when a road was widened, like the main house.

The Annex as a Repair Workshop

The workshop in the Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Annex was where the carpenters and plasterers who served the household carried out routine maintenance on the Yoshimura buildings.

By giving craftsmen a place to work on site, the household made repair part of its daily routine. The Agency for Cultural Affairs calls the workshop essential for understanding how the building group was maintained.

The bantō managed the business side of a merchant house, and the clerk's room placed the shop's staff in a building separate from both the family's main house and the kitchen stores. Like the other five, the annex was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.

What to Look For: Where the Roofline Drops

After the 2-storey rice storehouses, the roofline steps down at the back of the lane. That lower roof is the Annex, and the change in height marks the change in use from storage to workshop.

Lime plaster, namako panels and boarded walls all need regular upkeep, and this is where that upkeep was based. Knowing that, the other five buildings look a little different when you walk back past them.

Seeing the Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Annex

No interior opening has been announced for the Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Annex, and because it sits deep along the lane boundary, only part of it can be seen from outside.

Follow the lane along the boarded wall of the rice storehouse and the low roof comes into view beyond it. The lane is a residential path, so do not go further in than necessary.