A Small Storehouse at the Corner of a Lane
The Tomita Family Residence North Storehouse (冨田家住宅北土蔵, Tomita-ke Jūtaku Kita-dozō) is a two-storey earthen-walled storehouse in the Yasui district of Nanto City, Toyama Prefecture, built in the early Meiji period between 1868 and 1882 and registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 10 September 2019. It occupies the north-west corner of the Tomita compound, where the property meets a narrow lane.
The footprint is 33 square metres, which makes it the smallest of the five registered buildings on the site. The ridge runs north to south under a gabled roof of pantiles, and the walls are the thick layered earth of a dozō, finished outside in white lime plaster.
It does not stand alone. The South Storehouse sits immediately beside it on the same stone retaining wall behind the main house, and an open-sided lean-to roof runs along the east face of both, linking them into a single covered run. The working yard between the storehouses and the back of the house is sheltered by that lean-to.
The North Storehouse is the older of the pair by roughly half a century. Its neighbour dates from the early Showa period, as does the miso storehouse attached to the main building.
How an Earthen Storehouse Is Built
A dozō is a fireproof box. Clay is packed in successive coats over a timber frame and a bamboo lattice until the wall reaches a thickness measured in tens of centimetres, then finished with shikkui, a lime plaster that sheds rain and reflects heat. Households of means kept their documents, textiles, lacquerware and seasonal goods in one, on the reasoning that a fire in the main house would not carry across.
The roof here uses the okiyane method, which the registration record notes explicitly. Rather than resting on the earthen shell, the tiled roof is a separate frame set over the top of it. Rain never reaches the clay, the two structures can move independently as the earth settles, and the roof can be stripped and relaid without disturbing the walls beneath.
The openings use kakego-nuri, a stepped rebate worked in plaster around the frame. The doors close into that step rather than against a flat face, so the joint follows a zigzag path that smoke and flame cannot run straight through. On the north elevation, the window frame and its doors are treated as one composition spanning both floors, which is unusual enough to be singled out in the official description.
Registration number 16-150 was granted in the ninety-third round, under the criterion covering buildings that contribute to the historic landscape of the nation. The North Storehouse was registered on the same day as the miso storehouse, the South Storehouse and the row-house gate, fifteen years after the main house. That one decision took the compound from a single registered building to a complete registered estate.
The Turtle on the North Wall
At the level where the two floors meet on the north elevation, the plaster carries a relief of waves with a turtle among them. This is kote-e, modelling done with the plasterer's trowel in wet lime, built up in layers and finished by hand while the material is still workable. It is the single detail that lifts this storehouse above the ordinary.
Water motifs on a storehouse are conventionally read as a charm against fire, and the turtle is a long-established emblem of longevity, so the pairing carries a wish that needed no explanation to anyone passing in the 1870s. Whoever commissioned it chose the placement carefully. The relief faces the lane, not the family's own yard. Plasterers' reliefs were public work, made to be seen by neighbours and travellers, and a household that could afford one wanted the outward corner of its property to say so.
That corner is also the point of the registration. The official assessment credits the North Storehouse with completing the estate frontage where the property turns onto the lane. Anyone who views the compound only from the main approach will miss it. White plaster, dark tiles above, stone retaining wall below: this is the boundary the neighbourhood has looked at for a century and a half.
The building is private property and there is no interior access. Everything described here can be seen from the public lane. Fukuno Station on the JR Johana Line is the nearest railhead; the weekday city bus toward Yasui reaches the Anyoji-mae stop in about ten to fifteen minutes, and a taxi takes roughly fifteen. Drivers leave the Hokuriku Expressway at Tonami or Oyabe. Photography from the lane is unrestricted, though the compound is a working home and discretion is appreciated. Anyo-ji, whose Kannon hall is a Toyama prefectural cultural property, is a ten-minute walk up the slope.
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Q&A
- Can visitors go inside the Tomita Family Residence North Storehouse?
- No. The storehouse belongs to an occupied private residence and there is no interior access or visitor entrance. The north and west elevations, including the plaster relief, can be seen from the public lane that runs along the corner of the property.
- What is the plaster relief on the Tomita Family Residence North Storehouse?
- It is a kote-e, a relief modelled in lime plaster with a trowel, showing waves and a turtle. It sits at the division between the two floors on the north face. Water is conventionally read as a charm against fire and the turtle as an emblem of long life.
- When was the Tomita Family Residence North Storehouse built and registered?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the early Meiji period, between 1868 and 1882. It was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 10 September 2019 under registration number 16-150.
- How does the Tomita Family Residence North Storehouse differ from the South Storehouse?
- Both are two-storey earthen storehouses on the same stone retaining wall behind the main house, and a shared open-sided lean-to links them along their east faces. The North Storehouse is the older by about fifty years and carries the plaster relief; the South Storehouse dates from the early Showa period.
- How do you reach the Tomita Family Residence North Storehouse?
- Take the weekday city bus from Fukuno Station on the JR Johana Line toward Yasui and alight at Anyoji-mae, about ten to fifteen minutes, or a taxi for roughly fifteen. By car, leave the Hokuriku Expressway at the Tonami or Oyabe interchange. The storehouse is at the north-west corner of the compound, on the lane side.
Basic Information
| Name | Tomita Family Residence North Storehouse (冨田家住宅北土蔵, Tomita-ke Jūtaku Kita-dozō) |
|---|---|
| Location | 188 Yasui, Nanto City, Toyama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings), registration no. 16-150, ninety-third round |
| Year Designated | Registered and gazetted 10 September 2019 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 33 m²; two storeys, earthen wall construction |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Private property. No interior access; exterior visible from the adjoining public lane |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Tomita Family Residence North Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012893
- Toyama Cultural Heritage — Tomita Family Residence North Storehouse
- https://toyama-bunkaisan.jp/search/3102/
- Toyama Cultural Heritage — Tomita Family Residence Miso Storehouse
- https://toyama-bunkaisan.jp/search/3096/
- Nanto City Culture and Arts Archives — Tomita Family Residence
- https://culture-archives.city.nanto.toyama.jp/culture/bunkazai/bunkazai0245/
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Tomita Family Residence (main house)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004228
Last verified: 2026.08.24