What the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse is
The Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse (若喜商店座敷蔵, Wakaki Shōten Zashikigura) is a 2-story timber-framed brick Zashiki-gura, a storehouse fitted out with formal tatami rooms, built in 1904 for a miso and soy sauce maker in Aza Sanchome, Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2001.
It has a tiled roof and a footprint of 30 square meters. The Agency for Cultural Affairs places it against the east end of the 3-story brick storehouse, with an entrance porch on the east side whose upper level is built like a balcony. From outside it reads as a red brick Western building; inside are Japanese rooms, finished on the ground floor mainly in striped persimmon wood (shimagaki) and upstairs in zelkova (Keyaki).
Wakaki Shoten calls the lower room the Shimagaki Room: ceiling, lintels and posts, even the low table and the brazier, are all striped persimmon. The upper room is the Keyaki Room, done entirely in zelkova, and the company says the head of the family put thought into every corner as a pleasure for his retirement.
Why the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse was registered
It was registered as a building that is "difficult to reproduce." The Agency for Cultural Affairs cites the timber and brick structure, the east porch and the persimmon and zelkova woodwork, and notes that the decorative brickwork at the eaves and around the middle of the walls is even richer than on the 3-story brick storehouse.
Much of the difficulty lies in the wood. Shimagaki is persimmon in which tannin and growth rings have mingled over many years to leave dark stripes and blotches. Wakaki Shoten notes a record of a giant striped persimmon found in the Okitama area of Yamagata Prefecture in the early Meiji years and believes the room was made from it. Gathering enough of such wood to line a whole room would be close to impossible now.
The Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse was registered on October 12, 2001, as number 07-0060.
What to look for at the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse
In the Shimagaki Room, follow the grain. Wakaki Shoten likens the patterns to peacock feathers and bunches of grapes. Because the ceiling boards, posts and table are all the same wood, the dark figure runs through the whole room and gives it a dense, enclosed feel unlike any ordinary tatami room.
Outside, look at the east porch of the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse. The upper floor pushes out like a balcony and roofs the entrance below, giving a storehouse the formal front of a house that receives guests. Stepped brick bands run along the eaves and the middle of the wall; set beside the brick storehouse, this building has more bands and deeper relief.
Timber-framed brick means posts and beams form the frame and brick fills between them to make the walls. From outside it is hard to tell from solid brick, but it makes fitting a wooden interior far easier, which is how a Japanese room came to sit inside a brick shell here.
Visiting the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse
Visitors cannot enter the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse. The Shimagaki Room on the ground floor is seen through glass, free of charge, from the display room on the ground floor of the brick storehouse, which opens off the shop. The company gives viewing hours of about 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Keyaki Room upstairs is closed.
The east porch and the brick ornament can be seen from the garden behind the shop. Since you are looking through glass, the grain shows best on the lit ceiling and posts. Photography rules are not posted, so ask at the shop.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Fukushima
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse
- [ Aizu-Wakamatsu Castle & Ouchi-juku Village Tours ]
Q&A
- Can I see the Shimagaki Room in the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse?
- Yes, through glass. You cannot enter, but the room is visible free of charge from the ground-floor display room of the brick storehouse, from about 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
- Is the upper floor of the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse open?
- No. Wakaki Shoten describes it as the Keyaki Room, finished entirely in zelkova, and it is not shown to the public.
- What is shimagaki, the wood used in the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse?
- It is persimmon wood in which tannin and growth rings have mixed over many years to form dark stripes and blotches. Wakaki Shoten believes the room was made from a giant tree found in the Okitama area of Yamagata.
- Why is the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- Its timber and brick structure, east porch, persimmon and zelkova rooms and rich brick ornament were judged difficult to reproduce. It was registered in 2001.
- When was the Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse built?
- It was built in 1904, the same year as the brick storehouse next to it.
Basic Information
| Name | Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 4786 Aza Sanchome, Kitakata City, Fukushima Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2001 (Heisei 13) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber-framed brick, 2 stories, tiled roof, building area 30 m² |
| Owner | Not listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database (business operated by Wakaki Shoten Co., Ltd.) |
| Public Access | No entry; 1st-floor room visible through glass from the brick storehouse's 1st floor, free (about 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.); 2nd floor closed |
References
- Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00002355
- Wakaki Shoten Zashiki Storehouse (Cultural Heritage Online, Japanese)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/148965
- Brick Storehouse and Zashiki Storehouse (Wakaki Shoten, Japanese)
- https://www.wakaki-kura.jp/kura/
- Wakaki Shoten (Utsukushima Electronic Encyclopedia, Fukushima Prefectural Education Center, Japanese)
- https://www.gimu.fks.ed.jp/plugin/databases/detail/2/18/321
Last verified: 2026.10.04
