A Building for Living, Not Research
The Former Sericultural Experiment Station Shinjo Branch (Night Duty and Caretaker's Rooms) is a single-storey timber building of 1934 in Tokamachi, Shinjo City, Yamagata Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 29 March 2013.
It stands north of the main office, a little to the east. The roof is hipped and covered in sheet metal, and the footprint is 93 square metres, the smallest of the ten registrations at the station. The largest, the connecting corridors, covers 390 square metres, more than four times as much.
The walls are clad in overlapping horizontal boards, each course lapping the one below so that rain and meltwater run clear. The north wall is the exception: there the boards run vertically. Against wind-driven snow, a vertical grain sheds water more readily.
Inside, a corridor runs along the north side with rooms opening off it to the south. Originally they ran, from west to east, a bathroom, a room for boiling water, the caretaker's room and the night duty room. This was where someone slept, heated the bath and kept hot water ready.
Why It Was Registered
The registration number is 06-0142, granted under the first criterion, covering structures that contribute to the historic character of the landscape.
A site that keeps only its laboratories tells you nothing about how people worked there. Silkworms need feeding and temperature control around the clock, so staff had to stay on the grounds overnight, and a separate building was put up to give them a bath, hot water and a bed. That is what this one is for.
The change of cladding from one elevation to another carries its own argument. Horizontal boarding on three sides, vertical on the north, is the sort of decision that comes from living through winters rather than from a drawing board.
A 1986 refit removed most of the internal divisions, leaving one room across the building apart from the westernmost bay. The original plan has gone, but the line of the corridor and the wall finishes remain.
What to Look For
Walk round to the north wall. Three elevations carry horizontal boarding; this one runs vertical. The change happens at the corner, and standing there you see the two grains meet at a right angle. It is the clearest single piece of snow country thinking on the whole site.
On the boarded elevations, each overlap casts a shadow line. Catch them in raking light and a set of evenly spaced horizontals appears across the wall. The spacing is consistent, so following the lines with your eye is a way of reading the level of the building.
The size is worth registering too. The rearing houses to the north cover about 300 square metres each, more than three times this floor area. Frame the two together and the gap between a building for research and a building for living shows itself.
The south windows hint at the lost plan. Their size and spacing change partway along, at the point where the bathroom and hot water room gave way to the caretaker's and night duty rooms.
Visiting This Building
The interior now serves as a training room available for hire. You can go in only as a booked user; there is no access for sightseeing alone.
Hire costs 110 yen an hour, the lowest rate on the site. The room takes a gathering of about thirty and has heating and cooling, a blackboard, a whiteboard and a small screen. It is available from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., closed Tuesdays and from 29 December to 3 January. Book on 0233-29-2122.
The exterior can be seen freely from the grounds and outdoor photography is unrestricted. To photograph the vertical boarding you have to go round to the north side; the building sits on the path from the back of the office to the rearing houses, so it falls naturally into a walk through the site.
In the snow season the foot of the north wall is buried and the bottom of the boarding disappears. Come in a snow-free month if you want to see where the two claddings change over.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Yamagata
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Q&A
- Can visitors enter the Night Duty and Caretaker's Rooms at the Former Sericultural Experiment Station Shinjo Branch?
- Only as booked users of the training room that now occupies the interior. There is no admission for sightseeing alone, though the exterior can be seen freely from the grounds.
- What rooms did the building originally contain?
- A corridor along the north side with, from west to east, a bathroom, a hot water room, the caretaker's room and the night duty room. A 1986 refit left a single room apart from the westernmost bay.
- How big is the building?
- The footprint is 93 square metres, the smallest of the ten registered structures at the station. It is single-storey timber with a hipped sheet metal roof.
- Why does the cladding change on the north wall?
- Three elevations carry horizontal lapped boarding while the north wall runs vertical, which sheds wind-driven snow and meltwater more readily. It is a practical response to the local winter.
- How much does it cost to hire the training room?
- 110 yen per hour, the lowest rate on the site, for a gathering of about thirty. Available 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., closed Tuesdays and from 29 December to 3 January.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Sericultural Experiment Station Shinjo Branch (Night Duty and Caretaker's Rooms) |
|---|---|
| Location | 6000-1 Toumeki, Tokamachi, Shinjo City, Yamagata Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 29 March 2013 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber, sheet metal roof, footprint 93 square metres |
| Owner | Shinjo City |
| Public Access | Exterior viewable; interior hired as a training room by booking, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Night Duty and Caretaker's Rooms
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00009422
- Shinjo City: On the Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.shinjo.yamagata.jp/k001/020/010/030/030/9635.html
- Shinjo City: Facility Guide
- https://www.city.shinjo.yamagata.jp/k001/020/010/030/010/6468.html
- Michi-no-Eki Shinjo Ecology Garden Gensan-no-Mori: Room Hire
- https://michinoeki-eg.jp/rental/
Last verified: 2026.09.14
