A Storehouse at the Corner of a Temple-Town Lane
Johana-an (Former Nakatani Family Residence) Storehouse (じょうはな庵（旧中谷家住宅）土蔵, also written Jōhana-an Dozō) is a two-storey plastered storehouse in the Daikumachi quarter of Johana, Nanto City, Toyama Prefecture, built in the middle Meiji period and entered on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 17 November 2015. It stands at the southeast corner of its plot with the ridge running north to south, measuring 4.5 metres along the ridge and 4.2 metres across, for a registered floor area of 19 square metres.
Nineteen square metres. That is smaller than many hotel rooms, and it explains why visitors who come to Johana looking for grand architecture sometimes walk straight past it.
The building belongs to a pair. The main house that shares the property faces the wide street leading to Johana Betsuin Zentokuji, the Jodo Shinshu temple around which the town grew from the late sixteenth century. That main house dates from around 1905 and was moved to its present position by the hikiya method, sliding the entire frame intact, in 2001. The storehouse did not move. It has occupied this corner since it was built, roughly 1883 to 1897 according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs record, which makes it the older of the two structures by about a decade and the only one still on its original footprint.
Both were registered together on the same day in 2015 under the register numbers 16-0109 (main house) and 16-0110 (storehouse). The site had been bought and repaired a couple of years earlier by a group of local residents, who now run it as a neighbourhood facility and as one of the venues where the iori-uta songs of the Johana Hikiyama Festival are requested and performed.
Why a Nineteen-Square-Metre Building Was Registered
Japan's registration system for tangible cultural properties, introduced in 1996, works differently from the older designation system that produces National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties. Registration is lighter: it applies to buildings generally more than fifty years old, imposes fewer restrictions on the owner, and is designed to keep ordinary structures in use rather than freeze them. Each registered property is filed under one of three criteria. This storehouse falls under the first: contributing to the historic landscape of the nation.
That criterion is worth reading carefully, because it says something about how the building was assessed. The Agency for Cultural Affairs commentary ends with a single clause describing it as a storehouse that lends character to the small lane of the temple town. Not a rare structural type, not the work of a named carpenter. Its value was located in what it does to the street.
The technical description does record specific choices. The walls are finished in white lime plaster over the earthen core typical of dozo construction. The roof is okiyane, a separate roof frame set over the thick earthen shell rather than tied into it, covered with pantiles in a gable form. Inside the roof space the carpenter used noboribari, rafters that run as inclined beams from wall plate to ridge, a method that suits a narrow span and keeps the upper floor clear.
Johana lost a great deal of its building stock to a major fire in 1898. The storehouse appears to predate that fire, and the main house beside it was built afterwards. Fireproof storehouses were the insurance policy of a merchant town, and the survival of this one through the fire that reshaped the district around it gives the registration a second, quieter justification.
Two Openings Worth Stopping For
The detail that repays a slow look is the framing of the two openings. A doorway opens toward the south end of the west wall, and a small window is cut into the east wall at second-floor level. Both are given plaster surrounds shaped like a torii, the gateway form familiar from Shinto shrines: two uprights carrying a horizontal head that projects slightly at either end. On a Buddhist temple town's merchant storehouse this is decoration rather than religious statement, a plasterer's flourish applied where the eye naturally rests.
Look also at the wall surface itself. Where the outer coat of white lime has flaked away, the brown middle coat shows through. Municipal documentation in Nanto City treats this as part of what the building offers rather than as damage to be corrected, and on an overcast day the patchwork of white and ochre reads clearly from the far side of the lane.
You can see all of this from the public lane at any hour, and photographing the exterior from the street presents no problem. The interior is another matter: this is a working community facility, not a museum, and it opens according to the programme of the residents' group that manages it. Anyone hoping to go inside should ask in advance through the Nanto City tourism office or the Gokayama Nanto Tourism Organization desk at Johana Station rather than turning up unannounced.
The walk from Johana Station takes about thirteen minutes on foot. Zentokuji temple is a few minutes further, and the Johana Hikiyama Kaikan, which displays the festival floats year-round, sits nearby. Daikumachi is one of the six quarters that field a float in the festival, and the storehouse's lane is on the route the procession follows in early May.
One point of possible confusion: several unrelated properties in Japan carry the Nakatani family name, including an Important Cultural Property in Noto Town, Ishikawa Prefecture, and a registered property in Nara. The Johana buildings are distinct from both, and the operating name Johana-an was adopted after the residents' group took the site on.
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Q&A
- Can visitors go inside Johana-an (Former Nakatani Family Residence) Storehouse, and is there an admission fee?
- The exterior can be viewed freely from the public lane at any time with no fee. The interior is not on a fixed public opening schedule, because the site operates as a community facility run by local residents. Contact the Nanto City tourism side in advance if you want to arrange access.
- How do I reach Johana-an (Former Nakatani Family Residence) Storehouse from the nearest station?
- Johana Station, the terminus of the JR Johana Line, is about thirteen minutes on foot. From Shin-Takaoka Station the Johana Line takes roughly fifty minutes. By car it is five to ten minutes from the Fukumitsu interchange or the Johana smart interchange.
- Is Johana-an (Former Nakatani Family Residence) Storehouse older than the main house on the same site?
- Yes. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the storehouse to the middle Meiji period, roughly 1883 to 1897, and the main house to around 1905. The main house was also relocated within the site in 2001, while the storehouse has never been moved.
- What does the torii-shaped frame on Johana-an (Former Nakatani Family Residence) Storehouse mean?
- It is a plasterwork motif rather than a religious marker. The doorway on the west wall and the small second-floor window on the east wall are each surrounded by a raised plaster frame shaped like a shrine gateway, a decorative habit found on storehouses in this part of Toyama.
- Is photography allowed at Johana-an (Former Nakatani Family Residence) Storehouse?
- Photographing the exterior from the public lane is unrestricted. The lane is narrow and residential, so keep to the side and avoid blocking access. For interior photography, ask the residents' group that manages the site.
Basic Information
| Name | Johana-an (Former Nakatani Family Residence) Storehouse / じょうはな庵（旧中谷家住宅）土蔵 |
|---|---|
| Location | 647-11 Aza Daikumachi, Johana, Nanto City, Toyama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register number 16-0110; criterion: contribution to the historic landscape of the nation |
| Year Designated | Registered and gazetted 17 November 2015 (Heisei 27), 82nd round of registration |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 4.5 m along the ridge by 4.2 m across; registered floor area 19 sq m; earthen-walled two-storey construction, gable roof, pantile-clad separate roof frame |
| Owner | Owner field blank in the Agency for Cultural Affairs record; press reporting indicates the site was acquired and repaired by a group of local residents |
| Public Access | Exterior visible from the public lane at any time, free of charge; interior use follows the programme of the managing residents' group |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs — National Cultural Properties Database, Johana-an (Former Nakatani Family Residence) Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010764
- Toyama Cultural Heritage — Johana-an (Former Nakatani Family Residence) Storehouse
- https://toyama-bunkaisan.jp/search/2552/
- Nanto City Culture and Arts Archive — Johana-an
- https://culture-archives.city.nanto.toyama.jp/culture/bunkazai/bunkazai0250/
- Johana Community Development Council — Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Johana, part 2
- https://jouhana-kc.7104.info/entry-1662616367.html
- Gokayama Nanto Tourism Organization — Johana area guide
- https://www.tabi-nanto.jp/about/area02
Last verified: 2026.08.24