Sakai Family Residence (Sabae)

About the Sakai Family Residence (Sabae)

The Sakai Family Residence (酒井家住宅, Sakai-ke Jūtaku) is the house of the Sakai family, founders of the hemp-yarn merchant Sakai Shōten (today Sakai Ovex), in Shimofukae-cho, Sabae City, Fukui Prefecture, where a main house built in 1910 and a storehouse were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2011.

The house faces the old Hokkoku Kaidō highway. The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives its address as 116 Shimofukae-cho and others, while Sabae City lists it under Honmachi 4-chōme.

Another registered Sakai Family Residence stands in Maruoka, and a different family's house with the same reading, written 坂井家, is in Mikuni. This site adds the place name: Sakai Family Residence (Sabae).

Sakai Shōten and the Sakai Family Residence

According to Sakai Ovex's company history, the first Sakai Ishirō founded Sakai Shōten as a hemp-yarn merchant in 1891, and the business later became a raw-silk wholesaler. In 1934 the second Sakai Ishirō set up the company's predecessor, Sakai Orisan, which became Sakai Sen'i Kōgyō and in 1992 took its present name.

Fukui Prefecture states that the storehouse of the Sakai Family Residence was built in 1891, when the family began trading hemp yarn here, to hold its goods. The main house followed in 1910 on the old highway, serving as both the business office of Sakai Shōten and the family home. It is the place where the business began, with trade and daily life under one roof.

Sabae City describes the storehouse as a store for raw-silk products instead. Since the firm started in hemp and moved into silk later, the two accounts may simply reflect different periods in the life of the same building.

The Two Registered Buildings and the Plot

The two buildings of the Sakai Family Residence (Sabae) were registered on January 26, 2011, under the numbers 18-0084 and 18-0085, both for their contribution to the historic landscape. The Agency's database gives these dates and sizes:

• Main house: 1910, altered around 1982. Wooden, 2 storeys, building area 153 m²
• Storehouse: mid-Meiji (1883 to 1897), altered around 1982. Earthen-walled, 2 storeys, building area 46 m²

The main house faces east onto the old highway and shows its front to the street. The storehouse stands behind it at the western end of the plot, across a courtyard. Shop and home on the road, a courtyard behind, a storehouse at the back: it is the deep, narrow layout typical of merchant houses on a highway. Each building is described on its own page.

Visiting the Sakai Family Residence (Sabae)

The Sakai Family Residence is a private home, and Sabae City notes that the interior is not open to the public (checked October 2026). The main house faces the old highway, so its frontage can be seen from the street. The storehouse lies at the back of the plot and is hard to see from outside.

Fukui Prefecture gives the walk from Nishiyama-kōen Station on the Fukui Railway as about 6 minutes. If you stop to look, keep out of the way of traffic and respect the residents' privacy.