Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Rice Storehouse

What the Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Rice Storehouse Is

The Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Rice Storehouse (立川吉村家住宅米蔵, Tachikawa Yoshimura-ke Jūtaku Komegura) is a mid-Meiji row of storehouses along the north lane of the Yoshimura compound in Tachikawa-cho, Tottori City, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on July 23, 1998.

Three small to medium 2-storey storehouses are joined in a single row with a combined footprint of 206 square meters. For registration purposes the three count as 1 building.

The Yoshimura family also traded in rice, and this is where the rice was stored.

What the Rice Storehouse Says About the Yoshimura Business

The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Rice Storehouse as evidence of the family's prosperity. Keeping three linked storehouses for rice as merchandise, quite apart from the living quarters, says a good deal about the scale of the trade.

It was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency also points out that, with the kitchen storehouse and the annex, it keeps the lane frontage in order.

What to Look For: A Front and a Back

All three storehouses open onto the back garden, inside the compound. Rice was loaded and unloaded there, and no doors face the lane.

In front of those openings runs an earthen-floored pent roof (Tsuchibisashi), so goods could be handled out of the rain.

On the lane side the walls are covered in vertical boards, and because there are three storehouses in a row, the boarded wall runs for a long stretch. Walking the lane, you see a continuous timber face rather than storehouse doors.

Seeing the Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Rice Storehouse

No interior opening has been announced for the Tachikawa Yoshimura Family Residence Rice Storehouse. Its doors and pent roof face the back garden and cannot be seen from outside, so what you can see is the boarded lane-side wall.

The lane serves local households, so be considerate about where you stop and when you take photographs. Looking down the lane from one end shows the length of the three joined storehouses best.