Kada Family Residence Storehouse

What Is the Kada Family Residence Storehouse?

The Kada Family Residence Storehouse (加田家住宅土蔵, Kada-ke Jūtaku Dozō) is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse in Yabu-no-cho, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture, built in 1931 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan in 2007.

It stands in front of the main house, toward the north. The plan is 3 ken by 2 ken, a building area of 20 m², under a Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof laid in Hongawarabuki tile. It went up two years after the main house, in the same year as the tea house.

Why the Kada Family Residence Storehouse Was Registered

The Kada Family Residence Storehouse was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property for its contribution to the historic landscape, under registration number 30-0104.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs praises the care taken over its finish. That care reaches beyond the doors and windows that anyone can see to the timber frame hidden in the upper floor.

What to Look for at the Kada Family Residence Storehouse

The roof of the upper floor rests on a King post truss: a central post with diagonal braces forming a triangle, a Western framing method that carries the roof without the stacked heavy beams of a traditional Japanese roof frame. Outside, the Kada Family Residence Storehouse looks like a classic plastered storehouse; inside, its framing follows a Western method.

The front entrance and the upper windows are closed by heavy doors finished in Shikkui lime plaster. The brackets under the small window hoods carry swirl motifs modeled in relief in the plaster, a piece of the plasterer's craft that rewards a close look.

The roof uses the full hongawara system of alternating flat and round tiles. The main house has the lighter interlocking pantile, so the storehouse is the one building in the compound with this heavier roof.

Visiting the Kada Family Residence Storehouse

The Kada Family Residence Storehouse is on private residential land and is not open to the public. It stands near the Front Gate, but how much of it can be seen from the street has not been confirmed. Please view it only from outside the property. Directions are on the page for the Kada Family Residence.