What Is the Taketo Store?
The Taketo Store (竹藤店舗, Taketō Tenpo) is a two-story timber shop built in 1841 facing south onto the street at Taketo, a bamboo wholesaler's premises in Chuo 1-chome, Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture, and it was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2019.
With a frontage of 7 ken and a building area of 82 square meters, the Taketo Store is described by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as a large shop. The roof is now metal sheet, and the building was renovated in 1970. It was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country.
An Earthen Shop Floor and a Raised Counting Room
On the ground floor of the Taketo Store, the eastern half is an earthen-floored (Doma) shop and the western half a raised, boarded floor for the chōba, the counting room where the books were kept, with a storeroom at the far west end. The upper floor was used for storage. Goods on the packed earth, accounts on the boards: the plan still reads as a wholesaler's shop.
Taketo's website lists what survives at the heart of the shop: a noren curtain dyed with the shipping mark, snow-shoji doors, the counting room, yarō-datami mats without cloth borders, and the earthen floor. Pillars where oxen and horses were tied have worn round at the corners. Bamboo once arrived by ox cart, the family says, and the animals were tethered to the shop's posts.
Paper Doors and Lifting Shutters at the Front
A lean-to roof (Geya) projects across the front of the Taketo Store. At ground level it is closed with koshidaka shoji, paper doors on a tall wooden base, each 1 ken wide. Where the lean-to meets the main body, the full width is fitted with suriagedo, board shutters raised upward in grooves, and the upper floor front is plain board wall. The Agency singles these out as an old shop form that has survived.
The shop calls these lifting shutters shitomi-do, and according to its website they are still opened and closed every day.
Aizuwakamatsu City points to the fitted doors and the bamboo blinds on the upper floor as showing how a merchant's frontage looked. The family chronology adds a tradition that upstairs blinds were required so that no one would look down on the domain lord passing in the street.
Visiting the Taketo Store
The Taketo Store is still a working shop selling bamboo crafts, household goods, folk crafts and Aizu tojin-dako kites, so during opening hours you can step onto the earthen floor and look around inside. It opens 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and closes on Wednesdays (checked October 2026). Since 2022 one corner has been let as Space Taketoratan, where makers rent shelves.
The frontage with its paper doors and lifting shutters can be seen from the street; come before opening or after closing and you will find the shutters down. The website welcomes photography in the museum in the main house but says nothing about photographs inside the Taketo Store, so ask the staff first. Directions and parking are on the Taketo page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Fukushima
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Taketo Store
- [ Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle & Ouchi-juku Village Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the Taketo Store built?
- It was built in 1841 and renovated in 1970. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2019.
- What is inside the Taketo Store?
- The eastern half of the ground floor is an earthen-floored shop and the western half a raised counting room, with a storeroom at the west end. The upper floor was used for storage.
- What should I look for on the front of the Taketo Store?
- The paper doors, each 1 ken wide, under the projecting lean-to, and the lifting board shutters along the line where the lean-to meets the main body. The Agency for Cultural Affairs regards them as an old shop form.
- Is the Taketo Store open, and what are its hours?
- Yes, it trades as a shop for bamboo crafts, folk crafts and Aizu tojin-dako kites. The website gives 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed on Wednesdays (checked October 2026).
- Why are some pillars in the Taketo Store worn round?
- According to the shop, oxen and horses that pulled the bamboo carts were tied to them, wearing down the corners.
Basic Information
| Name | Taketo Store (竹藤店舗) |
|---|---|
| Location | 69 Chuo 1-chome, Aizuwakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2019 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 82 m² |
| Owner | Not listed (the owner field in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database is blank) |
| Public Access | Open as a shop (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., closed Wednesdays) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Taketo Store
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013027
- Aizuwakamatsu City: Designated Historic Landscape Buildings (Japanese)
- https://www.city.aizuwakamatsu.fukushima.jp/docs/2009020200238/
- Taketo / Taketo Chaya: About Taketo (Japanese)
- https://www.taketou.net/pages/2608868/page_201902151038
- Taketo / Taketo Chaya: History of Taketo (Japanese)
- https://www.taketou.net/pages/2608880/page_201902151049
- Taketo / Taketo Chaya: Access and Contact (Japanese)
- https://www.taketou.net/pages/2608950/page_201902151121
Last verified: 2026.10.07
