Obara-Ya Harada Shoten Library

One Document Storehouse, a Registered Tangible Cultural Property since 1999

Obara-Ya Harada Shoten Library (小原屋原田商店文庫蔵, Obaraya Harada Shoten Bunkogura) stands at 1714 Kajikazawa, Fujikawa Town, Minamikoma District, Yamanashi Prefecture, an Edo-period building entered on the register of tangible cultural properties on 7 June 1999. It is a registered property rather than a designated one.

The quantity is one building.

The structure is of earthen construction, two-storeyed, tiled, with a floor area of 53 square metres. The date field reads Edo and the year field 1830 to 1867.

Other Buildings Placed by Reference to This One

Within the grounds it serves as a point to measure from.

The Agency records it standing on the northern corner of the grounds.

The salt storehouse on the same grounds is said to stand west of it; the new reception room, to stand at right angles to it.

Two buildings are placed by reference to this store.

At Hayabusa Station, the position is given as a distance from another station: another station is the point of reference.

Here a small store on the same grounds is the reference. Its corner position may be why, but the record does not say.

One Room on Each Floor

There is no division within; each floor is a single space.

The Agency records one room on each of the 2 floors.

The oil storehouse on the same grounds is divided into 3 rooms, the salt storehouse into 2. This one has no partition.

Set side by side, oil, salt and document stores run 3, 2, 1 in rooms, and 152, 86, 53 square metres in area.

At the Oishi residence, the north storehouse divides within into a miso store and an implement store.

Here a single room for documents stands one above the other.

Called Standard in Construction

The assessment ends by calling it ordinary.

The Agency closes that the eaves show widely spaced rafters, but that eaves and walls alike are plastered over in lime: a standard construction.

Widely spaced rafters are set with gaps between them; to plaster over is to cover them in lime.

The record adds that besides a door and a small window in front on the ground floor, the upper floor has only small windows in the two gables: a closed arrangement.

The Oishi inner storehouse is called a standard earthen store on a foundation of uncoursed stone, finished in lime plaster. This one, too, closes on standard.

On these grounds the oil store is called carefully made and the salt store plain. Each store closes on its own word; this one's is standard.

Visiting

The building stands at 1714 Kajikazawa, Fujikawa Town, Minamikoma District, Yamanashi Prefecture.

It is a small gabled earthen store of 2 storeys covering 53 square metres, the smallest of the 5 on the grounds after the new reception room at 31 square metres.

The date field reads 1830 to 1867, the same range as the oil and salt storehouses.

The English name in the database reads Library, but a store of this kind keeps documents and books rather than being a library.

No owner is recorded, and opening and terms follow the owner's arrangements. Check before travelling.