The Brewery's Shop Front and House
The Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence (渡辺彦兵衛商店事務所・住宅) is the shop and family house of a sake brewery of 1925 in Shitamachi, Gojome Town, Akita Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on December 20, 1996 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
The Agency records a single-storey timber building with a sheet-iron roof and a building area of 241 square metres; registration number 05-0006.
It combines the office of a brewery that traces its founding to 1688, now Fukurokuju Brewery, with the home of the brewing family. The brewery says the fire of 1921 took nearly all its buildings; this one was built four years later.
A Shop Front with a Through Passage
The Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence has two parts: a shop facing the street and a suite of tatami rooms behind it (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The shop has a hipped roof and is entered at the gable end, so the gable faces the street.
Inside, an earth-floored passage called a tori-niwa runs straight from the front to the back, and beside it the office, an eight-mat room and the living room line up one behind another. Customers stepped in from the street onto the earthen floor and did their business in the front office; trade and family life shared one roof, front to back, as in many Japanese town shops.
The rear section is planned as four rooms around a side entrance for the household, with a further eight-mat room (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The rooms for family and guests sit well back from the shop, and the innermost one opens onto the garden.
Why It Was Registered
The Agency singles out the innermost reception room, together with its view of the garden, as a fine example of a Japanese-style house, and registered the building as a model of design. With the Upper and Lower Storehouses registered on the same day, it forms a familiar landmark of a townscape known for sake brewing.
What to Look For
From the street, the gable end of the hipped roof faces you. Take in the shop front, then notice how far the building runs back from the street: the plan strings shop and house one behind the other along the through passage.
What the Agency praises most is the innermost room and its garden, but that lies deep inside the family's home and cannot be seen from the street.
Visiting
The Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence is still the office and home of a working brewery, and the interior is not open to the public. The front faces the street and can be seen from the road.
Q&A
- When was the Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence built?
- In 1925 (Agency for Cultural Affairs), after the fire of 1921 had destroyed most of the brewery's buildings.
- What is the layout of the Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence?
- A hipped-roof shop facing the street with an earth-floored through passage, the office, an eight-mat room and the living room in a row, and tatami reception rooms behind (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
- Can I go inside the Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence?
- No. It is still a working office and family home; the front can be seen from the street.
- Where is the Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence?
- At 48 Shitamachi, Gojome Town, Akita Prefecture, on the brewery site facing the morning market street.
- When was the Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence registered?
- On December 20, 1996 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Basic Information
| Name | Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence (渡辺彦兵衛商店事務所・住宅) |
|---|---|
| Location | 48 Shitamachi, Gojome Town, Minamiakita District, Akita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 1996/12/20 (Heisei 8) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber, sheet-iron roof, 241 m² |
| Owner | Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Co., Ltd. (renamed Fukurokuju Brewery Co., Ltd. in 2004) |
| Public Access | Interior closed (exterior visible from the street) |
References
- Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00000016
- Watanabe Hikobei Shoten Office and Residence (Cultural Heritage Online, Japanese)
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/176236
- History (Fukurokuju Brewery, Japanese)
- https://fukurokuju.jp/history/
Last verified: 2026.10.19
