About Kurazashiki
~ a tangible cultural property of Senboku city ~

“Kurazashiki” is a storehouse with a Japanese-style drawing room. ”Kurazashiki" is rare because a Japanese storehouse usually does not have a tatami room in it. This "Kurazashiki" was designated as a tangible cultural property of Senboku city in 1986.

Please feel free to come in and take photos!

Kurazashiki made of bricks

This is the oldest existing brick storehouse in the Tohoku region, which was built in 1891. Kakunodate has always had strong winds and was frequently hit by large fires.

In 1882, Ando Jozo Brewery was completely destroyed by the Great Sotomachi Fire. The following year, in 1883, the main building, miso and soy sauce storehouse, and library storehouse were rebuilt.

The master builder, Shogoro Fujita, took the lead in the construction of the new storehouse and began to build a new storehouse with bricks, which was rare at that time, to make the storehouse more resistant to fires. Bricks were glued and stacked with plaster on the exterior walls of the wooden storehouse. The walls of the second floor were made thinner to reduce weight. The boundary between the first floor and the second floor is constructed in the English style, in which bricks are stacked, one on top of the other, one on the long side, and one on the short side. The bricks are made in the town's Shiraiwa kiln, they were painted red without using glaze, and it made them a naturally uneven appearance.

It took nine years to complete the construction in 1891, with well-designed, such as the storehouse doors thickened to protect it from a fire. Thanks to the techniques of carpenters more than 130 years ago, it has never undergone any major repairs since then.

Interior Design

Reiwa Nishimiya, a painter born in Kakunodate Tamachi, supervised the interior design when the Kurazashiki was constructed.　Reiwa spent five years on the structure and production and painted 24 fusuma (sliding door panels). Dai no Zu, in particular, was Reiwa's favorite. He wanted it placed alongside the tokonoma (elevated alcove), resulting in an original layout with the tokonoma at the side, which is exceptional for a Japanese room structure. Reiwa also supervised the design of the butterfly motifs used to hide nails and the paintings on the side door. Another unique feature is that the room can be divided into two parts using a movable threshold. It is said that people from samurai families sometimes came to practice archery, and since it was not yet available for people from samurai families and townspeople to sit together at that time, the room was divided into two.

Wedding Ceremony in the Kurazashiki

This Kurazashiki was originally built to hold weddings. Thanks to the brick storehouse, uchikake (a kind of kimono worn by the bride), which is 130 years old, has been kept in good condition, and in the 2000s, a wedding ceremony was held in this kurazashiki, just like before with wearing uchikake.