Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1

What Is the Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1?

The Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1 (佐野家住宅１番の蔵, Sano-ke Jūtaku Ichiban no Kura) is a Dozo-zukuri storehouse built around 1900 in Onmadashi-machi, Takaoka City, Toyama Prefecture, and it was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on April 21, 1998. It is the northernmost of the four storehouses that stand in a line across the back of the Sano Family Residence.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs lists the Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1 as a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 20 square meters, registration number 16-0020. The structure field says timber while the description calls it dozo-zukuri: a wooden frame encased in thick walls of earth and plaster.

Why the Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1 Was Registered

The Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1 was registered under the criterion of serving as a model of form. The agency's description begins with the lesson of the 1900 Takaoka fire, after which the whole Sano property was laid out as a fire-resistant compound, and names this storehouse as one of that group.

It then explains that four storehouses were built side by side at the rear of the lot to form a firebreak. Each is modest on its own, but placed with no gaps they become one long barrier against fire approaching from behind. Storehouse No. 1 anchors the northern end of that barrier.

The row does not work alone. On the north, a firewall is built into the side of the main house; on the south, a free-standing brick firewall closes the property. The storehouses link the rear ends of those two walls, and that is the context in which Storehouse No. 1 makes sense.

What to Notice About the Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1

The detail to look for in the Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1 is its connection to Storehouse No. 2 next door. The agency notes that the two are finished as a single piece: the gap between them is walled off at the front, so from the courtyard the pair reads as one continuous building.

A gap between buildings is a channel for flame. The builders kept the two storehouses structurally separate but sealed their faces together, a simple precaution that shows how seriously Takaoka took the risk after 1900.

Cultural Heritage Online also lists the storehouse as residential architecture and repeats the description of the compound as a fire-resistant group.

Visiting the Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1

The Sano Family Residence Storehouse No. 1 is not open to the public. It stands at the very back of the lot and is hidden from the street by the main house.

The main house is a reservation-only restaurant, but no tours of the storehouses are offered. The property is private, so do not enter the grounds or try to look in from neighboring lots.