An 1847 Storehouse at the Centre of a Long Merchant Plot
The Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura (旧長江八兵衛商店座敷蔵, also written Kyu-Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura) is a two-storey earthen-walled storehouse at Nakamachi 66 in the Masuda district of Yokote City, Akita Prefecture, built in Koka 4 (1847) and placed on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 10 September 2010.
Masuda's merchant plots are cut into long strips: a narrow frontage on the street, then depth running back for tens of metres. This one runs east to west, and the storehouse sits at its middle, its ridge lying along the same axis. You enter from the gable end, an arrangement Japanese carpentry calls tsuma-iri. The register gives the measurements as 15 metres along the ridge and 5.9 metres across, with a building area of 152 square metres.
Those numbers include the outer shell. Over the earthen box itself sits a saya, literally a scabbard: a timber-framed enclosure with a gabled roof of iron sheet that wraps the storehouse on all sides. Masuda lies in one of the snowiest inhabited places on earth, and the scabbard keeps drifting snow and meltwater off plaster walls that would otherwise need constant repair. Storehouses built this way, absorbed into the body of the house rather than standing free in the yard, are what people here call uchigura, inner storehouses.
The plasterwork is finished in two tones. Black lime plaster covers part of the exterior and white the rest, a division of colour that took a skilled plasterer several seasons of drying and recoating to achieve.
Registered as a Model of Design
Japan runs two parallel systems for architecture. Designation, which produces National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties, is heavy and restrictive. Registration, introduced in 1996 for buildings roughly fifty years old or more, is lighter: owners keep far more freedom to use and alter their property, and in exchange the state gains a record and a measure of oversight. Most of Masuda's storehouses came in through the second door.
This building entered on the 68th round of registrations as number 05-0182, under the criterion zokei no kihan to natte iru mono, meaning a work that sets a standard in its form. The miso storehouse at the far end of the same plot had been registered a year earlier under a different criterion entirely, one concerned with contribution to the historic landscape. Two buildings, one owner, one address, and two separate reasons for the state to take an interest.
What makes this one a standard-setter is partly its date. Yokote City's own survey of the district found that inner storehouses containing a formal tatami room account for around 65 percent of the total, but that the type multiplied after the Meiji Restoration, as merchant households outgrew their main houses and needed private rooms. Storehouses from the Edo period were usually bunko-gura, plain strongrooms for documents, bedding and ceremonial tableware. A building dated 1847 that carries a partitioned tatami room with an alcove is therefore early for its type.
One caution is in order. The register records the construction date of the storehouse, not the date of the room inside it, and the city's survey notes that many strongrooms were converted into parlours later on. Nothing in the official record settles which happened here.
Context matters too. On 27 December 2013 the surrounding streets were selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, about 10.6 hectares taking in parts of Hommachi, Tamachi, Nakamachi and Nanukamachi, classified as a zaigomachi or rural market town. It was Akita Prefecture's second such district after Kakunodate. Nakamachi 66 falls inside the boundary.
What You Can See, and What You Cannot
Be clear about this before you travel: the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura is privately held and is not among the buildings opened to visitors in Masuda. Neither Yokote City's list of publicly accessible traditional buildings nor the tourist association's roster of houses that welcome guests includes it. The interior described in the register, with its tatami room partitioned off toward the west, its alcove and alcove-side recess, its lacquered posts and its old-fashioned beam framing, is documented rather than displayed.
That does not make a visit pointless. Masuda is a place you read as a whole, and roughly forty inner storehouses survive along a stretch of street about 400 metres long. Around a dozen households open theirs, some with an admission charge, some by appointment only. The obvious starting point is the Kura-no-Eki at Nakamachi 103, the former Ishihei hardware shop, given to the city and now run as an information centre and shop; published guides list it as open year-round from 9:00 to 17:00 without an admission fee, though it is worth confirming before you set out. The former Ishida Rikichi house, a rare three-storey wooden building, is the other municipal property open to the public.
For anything about access to privately owned buildings, including this one, the place to ask is the Masuda townscape information centre Hotaru at Kamimachi 53, run by the Masuda Tourism Association on 0182-45-5541. Opening arrangements change from year to year. In October the district holds Kura no Hi, a day when storehouses that are normally closed are opened together, and it is the one date on the calendar worth planning a trip around.
Getting there: Jumonji Station on the JR Ou Main Line is the nearest railway station, about ten minutes away by car or taxi, with Ugo Kotsu buses running to the Masuda Kura-no-Eki-mae stop close to Nakamachi 66. Photographing the streetscape from the public road is unproblematic. Interiors and private yards are a different matter, and permission should be asked for rather than assumed.
Two more things reward a slow walk. The old morning market has been held since Kan'ei 20 (1643) on days ending in 2, 5 and 9, and the main street carries the nickname Classic Road.
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Q&A
- Can I go inside the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura?
- No. The building is in private hands and does not appear on either the city's or the tourist association's list of traditional buildings open to visitors. Around a dozen other houses in Masuda do open their storehouses, and the Hotaru information centre on 0182-45-5541 can tell you which ones and on what terms.
- When was the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura built, and when was it registered?
- It was built in Koka 4, corresponding to 1847, in the late Edo period. Registration as a Tangible Cultural Property was notified on 10 September 2010, in the 68th round, under register number 05-0182.
- What is a zashiki-gura, and how does the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura fit the type?
- A zashiki-gura is a storehouse with a formal tatami room built into it, usually a board-floored space at the front and a tatami parlour with an alcove behind. This building follows the pattern: the register describes a tatami room partitioned off toward the west end of the ground floor, with an alcove, an alcove-side recess, and lacquered posts.
- How do I reach the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura from the nearest station?
- Take the JR Ou Main Line to Jumonji Station, then a taxi or Ugo Kotsu bus for about ten minutes toward Masuda. The Masuda Kura-no-Eki-mae stop is the closest to Nakamachi 66.
- What else is close to the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura?
- The Kura-no-Eki information centre and shop stands at Nakamachi 103, a short walk along the same street, and the former Ishida Rikichi house is also open to the public. The Yokote Masuda Manga Museum sits at the north end of the district. Almost everything in Masuda is within walking distance of everything else.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura (旧長江八兵衛商店座敷蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 66 Nakamachi, Masuda, Masuda-machi, Yokote City, Akita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register no. 05-0182 |
| Year Designated | Registered 10 September 2010 (68th round) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 15 m along the ridge, 5.9 m across; building area 152 sq m; two storeys, earthen-walled construction, iron-sheet roof |
| Owner | Private; no owner recorded in the national database |
| Public Access | Not open to the public. Enquiries to the Masuda townscape information centre Hotaru, 0182-45-5541 |
References
- National Database of Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00008246
- Cultural Heritage Online — Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/168668
- Yokote City — Notes on the Inner Storehouses of Masuda
- https://www.city.yokote.lg.jp/masuda/1003586.html
- Yokote City — Public Access to Traditional Buildings
- https://www.city.yokote.lg.jp/masuda/1001614/index.html
- Yokote City — Masuda Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings
- https://www.city.yokote.lg.jp/shisei/1001176/1001457/1003243.html
- Masuda Tourism Association — Townscape and Inner Storehouses
- https://masuda-matta.com/uchigura/
Last verified: 2026.08.11