Most people think of a warehouse or something similar when they hear the word “shed”. However, you might refrain from calling these storage structures “sheds” in Masuda. To understand why, one should first look at “zashiki-kura,” a Masuda-exclusive storage configuration that is carpeted in tatami mats.

Storage shed configurations were categorized into “bunko-kura” or “zashiki-kura.” The former was intricately structured and lacquered in polished stucco, which certainly seems excessive for a storage shed primarily used for holding receipts and other papers. The zashiki-kura, by contrast, were actually rather unique as they were used as living quarters for the heads of households, or as ceremonial spaces for special occasions.

These zashiki-kura served as proof of a merchant’s success in Masuda. These all-important rooms were sacrosanct, not to be damaged in any way. Merchants of the era imagined their storage space as a sword, where the “blade” that was the zashiki-kura was “sheathed” by a thick earthen wall. The configuration was specially constructed to withstand the uniquely heavy snowfall of the area and protect the contents of the “uchi-gura”, or “inner storage room.” By the way, these compounds also have separate “do-gura” or “outer storage” rooms, built outside the insulated uchi-gura. That’s why it’s not entirely accurate to call these special buildings “sheds”; it’s not befitting of the most opulent and intimate space in a merchant family’s home.


This is local trivia, but did you know that miso used to be stored in these sorts of buildings? To avert the risk of fire and especially the spread once it starts, the walls and floors were thickly lacquered in stucco, and it’s said the most narrow nooks and cracks were sealed with miso for the same purpose.