Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse

What Is the Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse?

The Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse (佐野家住宅調度蔵, Sano-ke Jūtaku Chōdogura) is a two-storey earthen-walled 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 stands south of Storehouses No. 1 and No. 2, on the far side of a passage leading to the back of the Sano Family Residence.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs lists the Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse as a timber-framed building with a tiled roof and a building area of 32 square meters, registration number 16-0022. Chōdo means household furnishings and utensils, and the name suggests that is what it was built to hold.

Why the Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse Was Registered

The Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse was registered under the criterion of serving as a model of form. What sets it apart among the four storehouses is that it builds the passage beside it into the fire defenses.

According to the agency, two fire doors are fitted to its north wall so that both the front and the back of the passage can be shut. A passage through a firebreak is an obvious weakness; here it stays open for daily use and can be sealed at both ends when needed. It solves the hardest part of turning a row of storehouses into a barrier.

On its south side, the agency notes, the storehouse is built as one piece with the miso storehouse. It seals off a passage on one side and joins its neighbor wall to wall on the other, handling both kinds of connection in the middle of the row.

What to Notice About the Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse

The front opening of the Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse closes with a fire door. An eave was added across the front at some point, and even that addition is plastered over rather than left as exposed wood.

An eave is normally a light attachment for keeping off rain. Encasing it suggests the builders did not want any timber under the eaves to become a way in for fire. That care extends to an add-on, which says a good deal about the compound as a whole.

At 32 square meters it is larger than Storehouses No. 1 and No. 2, at 20 square meters each, and smaller than the miso storehouse at 49 square meters. The storehouses grow step by step from north to south, and this one sits in the middle of that progression.

Visiting the Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse

The Sano Family Residence Furnishings Storehouse is not open to the public and cannot be seen from the street.

Although the main house operates as a reservation-only restaurant, the storehouses are not shown to visitors. The passage is part of the private property, so please do not enter it.