Ito Family Residence Barn

A Meiji Barn with Gate on a Mandarin Farm

The Ito Family Residence Barn (伊藤家住宅納屋) is a farm barn of the late Meiji era (1898–1912) in Nakaban, Itoga-cho, Arida City, Wakayama Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on May 10, 2018 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a two-storey timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 66 square metres, with a gate and flanking wall attached; registration number 30-233.

The Barn in the North-East Corner

The Ito Family Residence Barn stands east of the main house and fills the north-east corner of the plot (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It has 2 storeys and a roof of sangawara pantiles whose two ends differ: gabled on the south, which is the front, and hip-and-gable on the north, toward the road.

A gate and flanking wall are attached on the south. According to the Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education, the way into the homestead passes east of the barn and through this gate. Gate and wall are included in the registration as parts of the barn.

Inside, the southern half is a board-floored store and the northern half a living room, while an open-sided lean-to on the west serves as work space (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The Board of Education describes the south as earthen-floored and the north as a tatami room for the retired generation.

Why It Was Registered

The Ito Family Residence Barn was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape (Agency for Cultural Affairs), which values the way it fills the north-east of the plot and shapes the rear of the homestead. Storage, a living room and a work space sit under one roof, with gate and wall attached. The building takes charge of the whole entrance side of the farm.

What to Look For

The Ito Family Residence Barn stands on the road, so its hip-and-gable north end can be seen from outside. Only this road-facing end has the hip-and-gable form; the south end, toward the yard, is a plain gable (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Round the east side of the barn is the gate. Note how gate and flanking wall are attached to the south of the barn to form the entrance to the homestead.

Visiting

The Ito Family Residence Barn is part of a private home, and no interior opening has been announced. Its north side shows from the road. The gate is the working entrance to the homestead, so do not go through it or block the way.

The layout of the homestead and directions are on the page for the Ito Family Residence (Arida).