The Small Storehouse at the Back of the Lot
The Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura (旧長江八兵衛商店味噌蔵, also written Kyu-Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura) is a two-storey earthen-walled miso storehouse at Nakamachi 66 in the Masuda district of Yokote City, Akita Prefecture, built in the early Meiji era, remodelled during the Taisho years, and entered on the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 2 November 2009.
It is a small building by any measure: 8.2 metres along the ridge, 5.5 metres across, a registered building area of 53 square metres. The ridge runs east to west under a gabled roof of sheet metal. The plot it belongs to is one of the long east-west strips typical of Masuda's merchant quarter, and this storehouse occupies the far west end of it, the deepest point from the shopfront. Roads run along the east and north sides.
The shop name preserved in the register belonged to a merchant household. What the Nagae family traded is not recorded in the national database, and the family name now survives in the register mainly as an address label attached to two buildings.
Position tells you something about function. A merchant plot in Masuda was organised as a sequence: shop and living quarters on the street, an earthen passage called the toori running straight through, the family's inner storehouse in the middle of the plot, and the working buildings at the rear. This one belongs to the working end.
Registered for What It Does to the Street
Registration as a Tangible Cultural Property, a system introduced in 1996 for buildings of roughly fifty years and older, applies one of three criteria. This building came in on the 65th round as number 05-0171, under the criterion concerned with contribution to the historic landscape of the country. The registration itself is dated 2 November 2009 and the public notice 19 November 2009.
The choice of criterion repays attention, because the storehouse in the middle of the same plot, the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Zashiki-gura of 1847, was registered ten months later under a different one: a work that sets a standard in its form. The state read the two buildings differently. The parlour storehouse was valued for what it is in itself; the miso storehouse for the part it plays in a wider scene.
That scene received its own protection on 27 December 2013, when the surrounding streets were selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The district covers about 10.6 hectares across parts of Hommachi, Tamachi, Nakamachi and Nanukamachi, and is classified as a zaigomachi, a market town serving the countryside rather than a castle or a post station. It was the second such district in Akita Prefecture, after Kakunodate. A building on a corner, visible from two streets, does a good deal of work in holding a district like that together.
One point of caution about dates. The national database gives the construction period as the early Meiji era, with alterations in the Taisho years, which is a range rather than a year. Unlike its neighbour on the same plot, this building carries no single dated construction.
Reading the Door
The east gable end carries a tomae, the sheltered forespace that stands in front of a storehouse entrance and keeps weather away from the threshold. The door hung there is the detail to look at. It is an earthen door finished in kakego-nuri with three steps, meaning the door and its frame are cut into three stepped rebates that interlock when closed and are then plastered over. Each step is a barrier: smoke and flame from a neighbouring fire have to negotiate three changes of direction before reaching the contents. Fire, not theft, was the danger these buildings were built against, and in a town of timber shopfronts a well-made door was insurance.
Then the oddity. The door is hung off the centre line of the gable rather than in the middle of it. Symmetry lost, something else gained, most likely convenience of loading or the way the interior space was used.
Inside, the register records a single room on each of the two floors. That plainness is characteristic. Yokote City's classification of the district's storehouses divides them by floor: buildings with board floors, entered with shoes removed, are the inner storehouses that hold documents, bedding and formal rooms, while buildings with earthen floors, entered with shoes on, are working stores for miso, rice and seasonal materials. Miso storehouses fall in the second group. Fermenting soybean paste in wooden vats needs cool, steady temperatures and a floor you can hose down, not tatami.
The register also notes that the roof framing preserves an older form than is usual in the area. Roof structure is the part of a building nobody sees and nobody bothers to modernise, which is exactly why it dates buildings well.
Before planning a visit, note that the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura is privately owned and is not among the buildings open to visitors. It appears on neither Yokote City's list of publicly accessible traditional buildings nor the tourist association's roster. Around a dozen other households in Masuda do open their storehouses, some for a fee, some by appointment. The Kura-no-Eki at Nakamachi 103, the former Ishihei hardware shop given to the city, is the usual first stop and is described in published guides as open year-round from 9:00 to 17:00 without charge; confirm before travelling. For anything concerning privately held buildings, ask the Masuda townscape information centre Hotaru at Kamimachi 53, run by the Masuda Tourism Association on 0182-45-5541. Every October the district holds Kura no Hi, when storehouses normally kept closed are opened together.
Access is straightforward. Jumonji Station on the JR Ou Main Line lies about ten minutes away by car or by Ugo Kotsu bus, and the Masuda Kura-no-Eki-mae stop is the closest to Nakamachi 66. Photographing the street is fine; private yards and interiors need permission first.
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Q&A
- Can the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura be visited?
- It is privately owned and not open to visitors. Neither Yokote City nor the Masuda Tourism Association lists it among the traditional buildings open for viewing. Roughly a dozen other houses in the district do open theirs; the Hotaru information centre on 0182-45-5541 has the current arrangements.
- When was the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura built and registered?
- The national database gives the early Meiji era for construction, with remodelling during the Taisho period, rather than a single year. Registration as a Tangible Cultural Property is dated 2 November 2009, in the 65th round, with public notice on 19 November 2009 and register number 05-0171.
- What makes the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura different from the parlour storehouse on the same plot?
- Function and status. The parlour storehouse of 1847 has a tatami room with an alcove and was registered as a model of design; the miso storehouse has an earthen floor and one room per storey, and was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape. One was for the family, the other for the work of the household.
- What is the kakego-nuri door on the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura?
- It is an earthen fire door whose leaf and frame are cut into stepped rebates, three of them here, which interlock when the door is shut and are finished in plaster. The steps block the path of smoke and heat. On this building the door is hung to one side of the gable's centre line rather than at its middle.
- How do I get to the Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura?
- From Jumonji Station on the JR Ou Main Line, take a taxi or an Ugo Kotsu bus toward Masuda for about ten minutes. The Masuda Kura-no-Eki-mae stop is closest to Nakamachi 66, inside the preservation district.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura (旧長江八兵衛商店味噌蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 66 Nakamachi, Masuda, Masuda-machi, Yokote City, Akita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register no. 05-0171 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2 November 2009, notified 19 November 2009 (65th round) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 8.2 m along the ridge, 5.5 m across; building area 53 sq m; two storeys, earthen-walled construction, sheet-metal 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 Miso-gura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00007836
- Cultural Heritage Online — Former Nagae Hachibei Shoten Miso-gura
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/120907
- 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
- Agency for Cultural Affairs — Preservation District Profile, Masuda, Yokote City (PDF)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/seisaku/bunkazai/shokai/hozonchiku/pdf/94105901_06.pdf
Last verified: 2026.08.11