Takasagoya (Castle Town Tottori Community Center) Storehouse No. 3

The Oldest Storehouse on the Site

Takasagoya (Castle Town Tottori Community Center) Storehouse No. 3 (高砂屋（城下町とっとり交流館）蔵三, kura-san) is an early-Meiji earthen storehouse in Motodaiku-cho, Tottori City, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 31 July 2007.

It stands behind the main house toward the west side of the property. The two-storey Dozo-zukuri building measures 5 metres by 4 metres and covers 18 square metres, under a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki tile. A lean-to Geya roof over the front forms a small kuramae, the covered work area before the door.

It is the smallest of the three Takasagoya storehouses and also the oldest: the national database places it in the early Meiji period, the same era as the Residential Wing. Like Storehouse No. 1 to the east, it is entered from the gable end, in the Tsumairi manner.

Why It Was Registered: Rafters Sealed in Plaster

The registry entry for Takasagoya Storehouse No. 3 goes into unusual detail about the front elevation.

On both floors the lower front wall is Namako-kabe tilework, and the other walls are clad in vertical boards, much as on Storehouse No. 2. Here, though, the front lean-to and the upper window hood are finished as nurigome that still shows the shape of the rafters.

Nurigome means encasing timber in Shikkui lime plaster. On Storehouse No. 3 every Taruki rafter under the hood has been wrapped in plaster, then modelled so that its outline still stands proud. The wood is protected from fire, yet the row of rafters survives as a decorative rhythm of light and shadow. Tottori Prefecture's heritage database also points to the plastered rafters as a fire precaution.

The Mochiokuri brackets under the upper window hood carry plaster relief in a swirling scroll pattern, a plasterer's flourish on a very small building.

What to Look For

Walk up to the eaves of the front lean-to and look up. Beneath the white plaster you can make out the rafters at regular intervals from the ridges and shadows they cast. It is the best place to appreciate how the rafters remain legible even though no wood is visible.

Then look under the upper window hood for the swirling brackets. Storehouse No. 1 to the east also has plaster-relief brackets, and walking between the two lets you compare early-Meiji and late-Meiji plasterwork on the same property.

Visiting Storehouse No. 3

The exterior can be seen from the garden during opening hours. The house's website gives no information on entering Takasagoya Storehouse No. 3, so ask at reception if you would like to look inside.

The brackets sit at upper-floor height, so a camera with some zoom or a pair of binoculars helps with the details. No photography policy is published; during events, check at reception first.