Mukai Family Residence Storehouse

What Is the Mukai Family Residence Storehouse?

The Mukai Family Residence Storehouse (向井家住宅土蔵, Mukai-ke Jūtaku Dozō) is a small earthen-walled storehouse for household goods on the Mukai estate in Kada, Wakayama City, Wakayama Prefecture; thought to date from the late Edo period, between 1830 and 1868, it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 4 February 2021. It is a single-storey Dozo-zukuri building of 18 square meters.

The Mukai Family Residence Storehouse stands behind the main house to the north, set a little toward the west. No record gives its date, but Wakayama Prefecture places it in the closing years of the Edo period, which would make it roughly contemporary with the main house, raised in 1860. The prefecture describes it as a fairly low, compact storehouse.

White Plaster and a Detail at the Gable

The building runs east to west under a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Hongawarabuki tiles. Its walls are finished in white Shikkui lime plaster, with vertical boarding along the base.

The detail to look for is at the gable ends. Where the roof overhangs the gable, the plasterer has wrapped the projecting ends of the purlins, the moya-bana, in plaster so that each one reads as a crisp white block against the wall. The timber disappears under plaster, yet the position of every purlin stays legible.

A Heavy Bracket for a Small Door

The Mukai Family Residence Storehouse has a single doorway, in the middle of the south wall, closed by a thick earthen door according to the prefecture. Above it a small tiled Hisashi canopy juts out on Udeki arms, and beneath each arm is a large plastered Mochiokuri bracket.

For a building of only 18 square meters, those brackets are strikingly big. The prefecture calls the canopy heavy and substantial, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs also names the oversized plaster brackets among the storehouse's features.

The Agency adds that, seen from the west, the Mukai Family Residence Storehouse and the main house make a single picture together. It was registered under number 30-0292 for its contribution to the historic landscape.

Visiting

The Mukai Family Residence Storehouse is privately owned and neither the building nor its surroundings are open to visitors. Standing behind the main house, it is barely visible from the old Awashima Kaidō road.

The plastered purlin ends and the door brackets can be seen in the exterior photograph on the Agency for Cultural Affairs database. On site, please do not enter the private grounds.