Ito Family Residence Storehouse

A Late Edo Storehouse on a Mandarin Farm

The Ito Family Residence Storehouse (伊藤家住宅土蔵) is a storehouse for household goods of the late Edo period (1830–1868) 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 building of earthen-walled storehouse construction with a tiled roof and a building area of 26 square metres; registration number 30-232.

A Household Storehouse at the West End

The Ito Family Residence Storehouse stands west of the main house, deep in the plot, and faces east (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It was built to keep household goods; its ridge runs north to south under a gabled roof of hongawara tiles. The Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education describes it as adjoining the main house on the west.

The walls are plastered, with boarding over the lower part and a thickened plaster band, the hachimaki, under the eaves. Inside, the walls are lined with vertical boards (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Why It Was Registered

The Ito Family Residence Storehouse was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The Agency's attention goes to the north gable: the brackets carrying the window hood are cut to a moulded profile and plastered over, so that the face seen from the road is given a weighty finish. The Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education likewise notes the boarded base and plaster walls as the proper look of a storehouse.

What to Look For

The north gable of the Ito Family Residence Storehouse can be seen from the road along the north side of the homestead (Agency for Cultural Affairs). A single window opens in the white plaster with a small hood above it; the brackets under the hood are curved mouldings, not plain blocks.

Note too the boarding over the lower wall and the hachimaki band where the plaster thickens under the eaves.

Visiting

The Ito Family Residence Storehouse belongs to a private home, and no interior opening has been announced. Its front faces east into the yard, so the part visible from outside is the north gable. Stay off the plot and view it from the road.

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