What Wakaki Shoten is
Wakaki Shoten (若喜商店, Wakaki Shōten) is a miso and soy sauce maker founded in 1755 in Aza Sanchome, Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture, and 5 buildings on its premises, from a pair of 1904 brick storehouses to a 1931 shop, are listed as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties.
The 5 are the shop, the brick storehouse, the zashiki storehouse, the brewing hall and the work storehouse. The brick and zashiki storehouses went up in 1904, the shop in 1931, and the brewing hall and work storehouse date from the late Meiji period (1898 to 1912).
According to the company, its founder, Wakamatsuya Kisoemon, opened for business in 1755, and each head of the family since has taken the name Kiichirō. The business became a limited company in 1952, and the present head is the twelfth generation. Wakaki Shoten still brews soy sauce: whole soybeans and wheat from the area are left to mature in wooden vats inside an earthen storehouse. The company dates this naturally brewed line to 1995. It says 8 storehouses survive on the site, used over the years as parlor, warehouse and tool stores; the 5 registered buildings are the core of that group.
How the Wakaki Shoten premises are laid out
The premises face a street corner. The shop stands right on the corner. Behind it the 3-story brick storehouse runs back along a side lane, and the zashiki storehouse is joined to its east end. A garden lies behind the shop, and the two brick buildings are seen across it.
The south part of the site is the working side of Wakaki Shoten. The Agency for Cultural Affairs places the brewing hall southeast of the main house, with its ridge running north to south, and the work storehouse against its south side, running east to west. The work storehouse sits in the southwest corner of the site, its west end close to the street. A brick chimney rises on the east side of the brewing hall. The main house itself is not registered.
The listing came in 2 rounds. On October 12, 2001, the shop, brick storehouse and zashiki storehouse were registered as numbers 07-0058 to 0060. On October 14, 2021, the brewing hall and work storehouse followed as 07-0270 and 0271. The first round covered the buildings meant to be seen by customers and guests; the second added the places where soy sauce was made, bottled and shipped, so the 5 together show a brewer's whole working compound.
Kitakata brick and Wakaki Shoten
Kitakata is known as a town of storehouses. Wakaki Shoten explains that a great fire in 1880 made people value fireproof storehouses, and that when the railway arrived in 1904 a brick works was set up in the Mitsuya district. Storehouses built with Mitsuya brick followed. Kitakata City's cultural property plan likewise notes that kilns were built at Mitsuya from the mid-Meiji period and that brick and roof tiles began to be made locally.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the Wakaki Shoten brick storehouse as the first private building put up with brick from a Kitakata works, and says it is believed to have been built by Tanaka Mataichi, who spread brick construction in the town. The modern industrial heritage lists published by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in fiscal 2007 and 2008 include the "Wakaki Shoten brick zashiki storehouse" among Kitakata's red brick sites.
Most Kitakata storehouses are finished in white or black Shikkui plaster, so the red walls stand out on the street. At the back of the site, the work storehouse is a plastered Dozo-zukuri building, and having both kinds side by side is part of what makes Wakaki Shoten worth a careful look.
Visiting Wakaki Shoten
The Wakaki Shoten shop is open to anyone during business hours, and the brick storehouse and garden behind it can be seen free of charge. The company gives shop hours of about 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and viewing hours for the brick storehouse of about 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The ground floor of the brick storehouse is a display room connected to the shop, and from there you look through glass into the ground-floor room of the zashiki storehouse. Visitors cannot enter the zashiki storehouse, and its upper floor is closed.
The brewing hall and work storehouse are working buildings and are not part of the regular visit. To ask about seeing them inside, contact Wakaki Shoten (tel. 0241-22-0010). Listings give different closing days, so it is worth checking before you go.
The address is 4786 Aza Sanchome, Kitakata. The walk from Kitakata Station on the JR Ban'etsu West Line is about 1 kilometer north, roughly 12 minutes. For drivers, the company says 3 cars can park on the south side of the shop and 5 more in the yard reached beside its sweet shop.
References
- Wakaki Shoten Store (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00002353
- Wakaki Shoten Brick Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00002354
- Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00002355
- Wakaki Shoten Brewing Hall (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013945
- Wakaki Shoten Work Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013946
- Kitakata City Cultural Property Preservation and Utilization Plan, Chapter 2 (Kitakata City, Japanese)
- https://www.city.kitakata.fukushima.jp/uploaded/attachment/43016.pdf
- Wakaki Shoten (Utsukushima Electronic Encyclopedia, Fukushima Prefectural Education Center, Japanese)
- https://www.gimu.fks.ed.jp/plugin/databases/detail/2/18/321
- Wakaki Shoten official website (Japanese)
- https://www.wakaki-kura.jp/
- Shop (Wakaki Shoten, Japanese)
- https://www.wakaki-kura.jp/tenpo/
- Brick Storehouse and Zashiki Storehouse (Wakaki Shoten, Japanese)
- https://www.wakaki-kura.jp/kura/
- Company Profile (Wakaki Shoten, Japanese)
- https://www.wakaki-kura.jp/company/
Last verified: 2026.10.04
Basic Information
| Name | Wakaki Shoten |
|---|---|
| Location | 4786 Aza Sanchome, Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (5) |
| Coordinates | 37.65003, 139.87155 |
