Sugiura Family Residence Barn

What Is the Sugiura Family Residence Barn?

The Sugiura Family Residence Barn (杉浦家住宅納屋, Sugiura-ke Jūtaku Naya) is a mid-Meiji period (1883 to 1897) single-storey wooden barn on the estate of a family of doctors in Saijo Shinden, Showa Town, Yamanashi Prefecture, and was entered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 13, 2012. It occupies the northwest corner of the plot, eaves to eaves with the storehouse to its east.

The barn has a gable roof (Kirizuma-zukuri) laid with pantiles (Sangawara-buki) and a building area of 79 square meters. Its plan bends into an L, with 3 openings on the south side and 2 on the east. Of the five registered buildings on the estate, it is the only one that is entirely single-storey.

Why It Was Registered

The Sugiura Family Residence Barn was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country. Its L-shaped plan turns the corner at the northwest of the plot, closing off the western end of the line of buildings that starts with the storehouse and forming the corner of the estate.

What the Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out is the treatment of the inside walls. In front of the earthen walls stand half-round logs, split lengthwise, used as nizurigi: battens that keep stacked bales and sacks from rubbing against and damaging the clay. They are typical of rice storehouses, and the Agency describes the barn as built in the manner of one. That a doctor's household kept a barn fitted out for rice suggests the Sugiuras also held farmland.

What to Look For

Split-Log Battens

Once inside, look first along the walls, where the halved logs stand in front of the clay. Check which way they face, flat split side or rounded side outward, since that choice changes the texture of the whole wall.

The L-Shaped Plan and Its Openings

The Sugiura Family Residence Barn has been divided inside by partitions and used for storage and similar purposes. The openings listed by the Agency, 3 to the south and 2 to the east, all face toward the inside of the estate.

Displays of Everyday Life

The barn now holds a spinning wheel and other farm and household tools, along with a large collection of tableware once used at the Sugiura family's banquets. Where the clinic shows the family's medical work, the barn shows the everyday side of the household.

Visiting the Barn

The Sugiura Family Residence Barn is on the visitor route that runs from the clinic building through the garden to the storehouse and barn at the back, and its displays can be seen inside (according to Yamanashi's tourism site).

From outside, the L-shape is easiest to understand from the south and east, where the openings are. Since the barn sits in the northwest corner, walk west along the south side of the storehouse and then round the barn's south and east faces. Ask at reception whether the displays may be photographed (checked September 27, 2026).