Sakai Family Residence (Mikuni)

About the Sakai Family Residence (Mikuni)

The Sakai Family Residence (坂井家住宅, Sakai-ke Jūtaku) is an early Meiji townhouse in Kitahonmachi, Mikuni-cho, Sakai City, Fukui Prefecture, whose kagura-date main house, storehouse and cargo storehouse were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2005.

The house stands in the old streets of Mikuni Minato, the river port at the mouth of the Kuzuryū. From the main house on the street, the plot runs back through a courtyard to a storehouse and then the cargo storehouse, which faces the Kuzuryū River.

Two other registered properties share the reading "Sakai-ke Jūtaku", in Maruoka and in Sabae, but both are written 酒井家 with different characters. This site adds the place name: Sakai Family Residence (Mikuni).

Mikuni Townhouses and the Kagura-date Style

The main house of the Sakai Family Residence is a kagura-date townhouse: a main block with a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof entered on its gable end (Tsumairi), fronted by a lower block entered on its long side (Hirairi). Sakai City describes kagura-date as the townhouse form characteristic of this area.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out its neat façade, with delicate lattice windows and wing walls at both ends of the upper floor, as standing out even among Mikuni's historic streets. From the street it reads as a side-entered house, while the big gable of the main block rises behind.

Of the cargo storehouse at the back, the Agency writes that its weatherboarded south gable, facing the Kuzuryū River, recalls the days when river and coastal shipping thrived in Mikuni. The estate turns a domestic face to the street and a storehouse face to the river.

The Three Registered Buildings

The three buildings of the Sakai Family Residence (Mikuni) were registered on July 12, 2005 (the official gazette notice followed on August 2, the date Sakai City lists), under the consecutive numbers 18-0041 to 18-0043, all for their contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency's database gives:

• Main house: early Meiji. Wooden, 2 storeys, building area 75 m². 3.5 ken wide, 6.5 ken deep
• Storehouse: early Meiji. Earthen-walled, single storey with a partial upper floor, building area 35 m². 3 by 2.5 ken
• Cargo storehouse: early Meiji. Earthen-walled, 2 storeys, building area 58 m². 5 by 3.5 ken

A ken is a traditional unit of about 1.8 m. The earthen passage running through the ground floor of the main house continues under a lean-to along the east side of the storehouse, then through a passage on the west side of the cargo storehouse to its back door on the south. Street and river are linked by a single route through the property. Each building has its own page with details.

Visiting the Sakai Family Residence (Mikuni)

The Sakai Family Residence is a private home, and we found no information on interior openings or tours (checked October 2026). The main house faces the street, so its kagura-date frontage can be seen from the road.

Fukui Prefecture gives the walk from Mikuni Station on the Echizen Railway Mikuni Awara Line as about 5 minutes. If you stop to look, keep out of the way of traffic and respect the residents.