Horikawaya Matabei Residence Storehouse: A Small Granite-Footed Keep on a Temple-Town Lane
Beside the Matabei family main house in the old temple town of Gobo stands its companion storehouse, a compact two-storey keep that completes the pair. Built around 1930, it runs east to west along the lane on the north side of the main house. Where many storehouses rise from rubble or rammed earth, this one sits on a foundation of stacked granite, a solid base that anchors the small building to its street.
The store is gable-roofed and covers only about 23 square metres, modest in scale but carefully made. Its west face is clad in vertical boards on the ground floor and finished in white plaster above. The roof frame uses an oriokigumi arrangement, with raised rafters resting on beams that sit directly on the posts, and the formal tiled roof carries a gentle upward sweep. Small as it is, the storehouse was built to last and to match the dignity of the house beside it.
Why It Was Registered
The Matabei storehouse was registered as a Tangible Cultural Property on 7 October 2014, paired with the main house and grouped with the five Horikawaya Nomura buildings to form Gobo City's first seven national registrations. The register offers a lighter form of protection for structures that contribute to the historic look of a place, separate from the stricter designations of Important Cultural Property and National Treasure.
Its value is bound to the main house. The two buildings were registered as a set because they work as one along the lane, the low townhouse and its smaller storehouse together holding the line of the street. The granite foundation, the plank-and-plaster west face, and the gently swept tiled roof are the kind of careful, everyday details that, multiplied across a district, preserve the texture of a temple town.
What to Notice on a Visit
The setting is the jinaimachi of Gobo, the merchant and craft town that formed around Hongan-ji Hidaka Betsuin, the temple that gave the city its name. The Horikawaya households were part of this community; the same name is carried both by the soy sauce brewery in the Sono district and by this residence in the temple-town centre. The storehouse, though humble, is one of the small pieces that together make the old streets cohere.
This is part of a private residence, so the storehouse is to be enjoyed from the lane rather than entered. Look for the contrast on its west wall between the dark vertical boards below and the white plaster above, and notice how the granite base lifts the little building clear of the street. Seen with the main house, and set against the nearby Betsuin, it shows how even a 23-square-metre store earns its place in a protected townscape. Combine the walk with a visit to the Horikawaya Nomura brewery shop a short way off.
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Q&A
- Why was such a small storehouse registered?
- It was registered together with the main house because the two form a single composition along the lane and together help preserve the temple-town streetscape.
- What is notable about its construction?
- It stands on a stacked-granite foundation, with vertical boarding below and plaster above on the west face, and a roof frame in the oriokigumi manner under a gently swept tiled roof.
- When was it built?
- Around 1930, in the early Shōwa era, somewhat later than the late-Edo main house.
- Can I go inside?
- No. It is part of a private residence. Please view it from the street and respect the occupants' privacy.
- Where is it?
- On a lane in the temple-town centre of Gobo City, Wakayama Prefecture, beside the Matabei main house.
Basic Information
| Name | Horikawaya Matabei Residence Storehouse (Dozō) |
|---|---|
| Location | 85 Gobo, Gobo City, Wakayama Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure); registered 7 October 2014; registration no. 30-0193 |
| Registration criterion | Contributing to the historic landscape of the nation |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Structure | Earthen-walled (dozō), two storeys, gable roof, tiled, building area approx. 23 m² |
| Period | Early Shōwa, c. 1930 |
| Access | Part of a private residence; view from the street only |
References
- National Database of Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Horikawaya Matabei Residence Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00010226
- Cultural Heritage Online (National Institutes for Cultural Heritage): Detail 288069
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/288069
- Hidaka Shimpo: Horikawaya buildings registered as national cultural properties
- https://hidakashimpo.co.jp/?p=24518
Last verified: 2026.06.25