Tanaka Family Residence Pickle Storehouse

A Small Store for Winter Pickles

The Tanaka Family Residence Pickle Storehouse (田中家住宅漬物蔵, Tanaka-ke Jūtaku Tsukemonogura) is a small early Meiji-period earthen storehouse in Jinba, Yamagata City, Yamagata Prefecture, used for keeping pickles and other preserves, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2008.

It is attached to the west end of the main house's north wall, with a door on its south gable opening from inside the house. Since the main house keeps its earth-floored work area and kitchen on the west side, the storehouse sits close to where meals were prepared. It was renovated in 1955 (Showa 30).

At 3.9 metres by 2.5 metres, with a building area of 10 square metres, it is the smallest of the five registered structures on the property.

Why It Was Registered

The Tanaka Family Residence Pickle Storehouse received registration number 06-0108 in the 61st round of national registrations, dated 2008/10/23, for contributing to the historic landscape.

Pickles were a mainstay of farm households through Yamagata's long winters, put up in autumn and eaten until spring. Thick earthen walls keep a storehouse's temperature steady, which is exactly what fermenting vegetables need. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the building is still used to store pickles and the like, so this modest storehouse continues to do the job it was built for. It speaks to the everyday side of the household, alongside the grander main house and parlor storehouse.

What to Look For

A gable-entry earthen storehouse in miniature

It is a single-storey building in dozo-zukuri earthen-wall construction, entered from the gable end in the tsumairi manner, under a gabled roof clad in iron sheet. The walls are finished in white shikkui plaster with boards around the base: small as it is, it has all the essentials of a Japanese storehouse.

A door from the house, a window to the north

The door on the south gable opens straight from the main house, and a window is cut into the north wall. Placing the opening on the shaded side would let air through without letting in the sun's warmth, a sensible choice for a pickle store.

One room under a simple roof frame

Inside is a single undivided room, roofed with wagoya, the conventional Japanese roof frame of short posts standing on horizontal beams. Where the parlor and tool storehouses use a distinctive straight-timber framework, the pickle storehouse keeps to the standard method, a sign that each building was made to suit its purpose.

Visiting

The storehouse is part of a private home and is not open to visitors; as of October 2026 we found no announcement of open days. Set at the back of the main house, it is unlikely to be visible from the street.

The photographs in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database show the Tanaka Family Residence Pickle Storehouse and are the best way to see it.