Sugihara Shoten

Sugihara Shoten: a paper merchant's compound in Echizen

Sugihara Shoten (杉原商店, Sugihara Shōten) is an Echizen washi wholesaler founded in 1871 in Oizu-cho, Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture, and six buildings of its compound, built between 1917 and 1933, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in 2023.

Oizu (不老, written with the characters for "never ageing") is one of the five hamlets of the Goka district, the heart of Echizen washi production, where papermaking workshops still line a narrow valley road. Sugihara Shoten never made paper itself. It bought sheets made in the surrounding workshops and sold them on across Japan, the classic role of a production-area wholesaler.

According to the company, the business was set up here by Sugihara Hanshiro in 1871, and its later Tokyo branch in Kobunacho, Nihonbashi, supplied paper for the enthronement ceremonies of Emperor Taisho. Fukui Prefecture's heritage notes confirm that Sugihara Shoten ran a shop in Tokyo and prospered as a washi merchant. The surviving buildings date from exactly those prosperous years.

How the Sugihara Shoten compound is laid out

The Sugihara Shoten compound opens onto a street on its north side through a gabled front gate. Behind the gate lies a forecourt, and beyond it the main house stands roughly in the middle of the plot. The West Storehouse faces east toward the house; the East Storehouse faces west. The office sits northeast of the house, close to the street, and with the East Storehouse it shapes the northeast corner of the compound as seen from outside.

The ossuary is the odd one out. It stands apart on higher ground to the southeast, on a separate lot in the Dotani section of Oizu-cho.

In order of construction: the West Storehouse (1917), the East Storehouse (1921), the main house (1925), the front gate (late Taisho period), the ossuary (1931) and the office (1933). The office was moved to its present spot around 1975.

The six registrations at Sugihara Shoten

All six Sugihara Shoten buildings were registered on February 27, 2023, in the 104th round of registrations, under consecutive numbers 18-0235 to 18-0240.

Two criteria were applied. The main house, described as a refined modern Japanese-style residence, and the ossuary, a small reinforced concrete hall from the early Showa period, were registered as models of their building types. The gate, the two storehouses and the office were registered for their contribution to the historic townscape, in other words for the street-facing presence of a merchant's compound.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs reads the large storehouses as evidence of the firm's success. Three big fireproof stores for paper stock and tools say a good deal about the volume of trade that passed through this house.

Visiting Sugihara Shoten and getting there

Sugihara Shoten is a private property still used as a home and an office. The only building visitors can enter is the West Storehouse, converted into the Washiya gallery and shop.

Washiya is open strictly by appointment. The official website lists Tuesday to Friday, between 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., plus the fourth Saturday of each month between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Book ahead by phone (0778-42-0032) or email. No admission charge is mentioned. Ask about photography and parking when you book.

By car, Sugihara Shoten is about 10 minutes from Echizen-Takefu Station on the Hokuriku Shinkansen, and about 10 minutes from the Takefu Interchange of the Hokuriku Expressway; on foot from the Shinkansen station allow about 60 minutes. By bus, take a Fukutetsu Bus on the Nanetsu or Ikeda line from Takefu Station on the Hapi-Line Fukui and get off at Washi no Sato, about 30 minutes. The compound is roughly 500 meters south of that stop, around a 7-minute walk by map estimate.

The front gate, the East Storehouse and the office all face the street, so their exteriors can be seen from the road. Notes on what can be seen of the main house and the ossuary are on their own pages.