Inoue General Partnership Company
The Inoue General Partnership Company (井上合名会社, Inoue Gōmei Gaisha) is the premises of an old brewing business in Minamimachi, Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture, where three earthen storehouses, a shop storehouse of the late Edo period (1830–1868), a zashiki storehouse of the late Taisho era and a brewing storehouse of 1928, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on March 29, 2013 (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Their registration numbers run in sequence from 07-0136 to 07-0138.
The Agency describes the zashiki storehouse as part of the residential layout of a long-established brewery, and the brewing storehouse as a large storehouse typical of Kitakata, a town where brewing flourished. All three are built in the Dozo-zukuri earthen-storehouse technique, and between them they span roughly a century, from the end of the Edo period to the early Showa era.
How the Three Storehouses Are Arranged
The shop storehouse faces the street on its west side, with the shop downstairs and a tatami room upstairs (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The zashiki storehouse stands to its north, its ridge running east to west, with two formal reception rooms on the ground floor. Its upper floor serves as a store for household goods.
The brewing storehouse is by far the largest of the three: 30.6 meters long, 11.5 meters deep and 350 square meters in area (Agency for Cultural Affairs). In the Agency database the shop and zashiki storehouses are listed at 2854 Minamimachi and other lots, and the brewing storehouse at lot 3055 and others in a neighboring aza (district) of the town. Each building of the Inoue General Partnership Company has its own page.
The Inoue General Partnership Company in Otazuki
Minamimachi belongs to Otazuki, a town laid out in 1582, when a market was moved here from a neighboring village; in later centuries it prospered on brewing sake, miso and soy sauce (Agency for Cultural Affairs). Its streets of shop storehouses and other earthen buildings were selected as a Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 2018.
Kitakata City's plan for its cultural properties lists the three storehouses of the Inoue General Partnership Company among the historic resources of the old center of the Kitakata area, alongside the storehouses of Wakaki Shoten and the Yabe family.
Visiting the Inoue General Partnership Company
City records show the three storehouses as privately owned, and no official information on visits was found. The street front of the shop storehouse can be seen from the road, but please do not enter the property.
Minamimachi lies about 1.6 kilometers northeast of Kitakata Station on the JR Ban'etsu West Line in a straight line, a walk of a little over 20 minutes.
References
- Inoue General Partnership Company Shop Storehouse (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00009429
- Inoue General Partnership Company Zashiki Storehouse (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00009428
- Inoue General Partnership Company Brewing Storehouse (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00009430
- Selection of Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings (Agency for Cultural Affairs press release, Japanese)
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/1405021.html
- Kitakata City Plan for the Preservation and Use of Cultural Properties, Chapter 6 (Japanese)
- https://www.city.kitakata.fukushima.jp/uploaded/attachment/43024.pdf
- List of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Kitakata City, Japanese)
- https://www.city.kitakata.fukushima.jp/uploaded/attachment/40835.pdf
Last verified: 2026.11.02
Basic Information
| Name | Inoue General Partnership Company |
|---|---|
| Location | 2854 and other lots, Minamimachi, Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture |
| Owner | Private owner |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (3) |
| Coordinates | 37.65401, 139.88072 |
