Tajima Urushiten Former Factory Filling Hall

What the Filling Hall Is

The Tajima Urushiten Former Factory Filling Hall (田島漆店旧工場詰場, tsumeba) is a single-story brick workshop in Funao, Kainan City, Wakayama Prefecture, first framed in 1927, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 5, 2019. Its name, literally "filling place," comes from the work done inside: lacquer that had been refined and processed was packed into barrels here. The hall stands in the southeast corner of the site and is joined to the Dining Hall.

At 218 square meters it is the largest of the five registered buildings. The gabled roof (Kirizuma-zukuri) is covered in corrugated slate. Inside, the space divides into a main room and an anteroom, and a doorway on the west side of the anteroom opens onto the earth-floored passage of the Dining Hall.

Why It Was Registered

The Tajima Urushiten Former Factory Filling Hall was registered for contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as the core facility of lacquer production and the building that best conveys the character of the works. The entrance and storehouses show how the factory presented and stocked itself; this is where the product was finished.

Wakayama Prefecture also counts it among the few large brick buildings still standing in the prefecture. At 218 square meters on a single level, it dwarfs everything else on the site.

The building records its own history. A plaque set into the north gable wall carries brush-written inscriptions giving its construction and rebuilding dates. According to the prefecture, they state that the frame was raised in 1927, that termites later damaged it, and that the frame was raised again in 1958. The original roof was a timber Sawtooth roof (sawtooth roof), which was replaced in 1958 with steel trusses. Going by the prefecture's account, the brick shell dates from 1927 and the roof structure from 1958, two parts roughly 30 years apart.

What to Look For

The highlight is the roof structure over the main room. Steel trusses made of angle iron, L-shaped in section, are joined with rivets rather than welds and span a large space without columns. Close up, each joint shows its row of domed rivet heads.

The 1958 change was more than a repair. A sawtooth roof, with rows of pitched faces carrying skylights, is a common factory form for bringing in light. Here the timber version was eaten by termites, and the rebuilding swapped it for a steel frame under a simple gable. The main room's single open volume dates from that rebuilding.

Outside, look for the plaque on the north gable. Its brushed dates record that the building was framed twice. The Tajima Urushiten Former Factory Filling Hall has also served as an exhibition space: in 2018, according to a local news report, TAJIMA EXPO 2018, a display of tools and records left in the factory, was held in the red-brick building of 1927.

Visiting

The Tajima Urushiten Former Factory Filling Hall is on private land and is not regularly open (checked September 16, 2026). It sits in the far southeast corner of the site and is hard to see from the street.

Your best chance to see the riveted trusses up close is when the hall hosts an exhibition or another event. Entering the grounds during the on-site café's hours does not guarantee that the Filling Hall will be open, so check the organizers' announcements before you go. During exhibitions, follow the photography rules set for each show. Travel directions and café hours appear on the Tajima Urushiten Former Factory page.