A shop built like a storehouse
The Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House (安達家住宅見世蔵及び主屋, Adachike Jūtaku Misegura oyobi Shuoku) is a late Edo period merchant house standing on the north side of Shinjuku-dori in Makabe, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2017. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates its construction to somewhere between 1830 and 1868.
The block facing the street is a misegura: a shop whose walls were raised with the thick plastered construction that Japanese towns normally kept for fireproof storehouses. It runs 5 Ken along Shinjuku-dori and is entered on its long side, an arrangement called Hirairi. The main house meets it at a right angle behind. Both parts stand 2 storeys tall, both use Dozo-zukuri, and together they cover a building area of 135 square meters.
Sakuragawa City traces the local taste for this kind of building to a single night. A fire in 1837 swept through a town then roofed mostly in thatch and board, and the merchants who rebuilt afterwards put up shop storehouses and warehouses instead.
Inside, the east side is an earthen-floored Doma running back from the entrance, with the chōba, the raised counter where accounts were kept, and the living rooms set out along the west. Shop and household sit back to back under one roof, which is how a trading family in a country market town actually lived.
Listed as a model of its type
Registration in Japan works from three criteria, and the one applied to the Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House was that the building is a model of design. Its two companions on the same plot, the reception wing and the gate, were both taken up under a different criterion, for their contribution to the historic landscape. The distinction is worth holding onto: this building was judged on how it is made, not on how it looks in a row.
It carries registration number 08-0300 and was entered on the national register on 27 October 2017, in the 88th round of registrations. The listing covers 1 building. The owner is a private individual.
Makabe holds roughly 100 registered properties, and about 17.6 hectares of the town centre was selected in 2010 as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. Merchant towns with this density of surviving fabric are not common in the Kanto region, and the Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House came onto the register after that selection rather than with it.
The 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake hit Makabe harder than any other preservation district in the country. Sakuragawa City reports that more than 90 percent of the traditional buildings in the district were damaged, and repair work ran for years afterwards. This particular house had already been through a round of repairs in 1995.
What to look for from the street
Stand on the far side of Shinjuku-dori and look up at the Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House. The first thing to register is how little headroom the upper floor has. It reads as a storage level rather than a living one, and set beside the taller townhouses Makabe put up in the Meiji years the difference is obvious at a glance.
The eaves are carried on purlins pushed forward from the wall plane, a technique called degeta-zukuri, which throws the roof further out over the shopfront. What makes the storehouse manner complete is that the moulded cornice under those eaves has been plastered over as well. Almost no timber is left facing the weather.
The upper windows close with kannon-biraki shutters, thick slabs hinged in pairs and swung shut like the doors of a shrine cabinet. When one is standing open you can see the depth of the leaf, which is where the fire resistance actually lives. In an emergency the joints were sealed with Shikkui worked in by hand.
Follow the roofline where the shop block meets the house behind it. The junction of the two ridges is the only clue from the street to the L shape of the plan, and reading it is more satisfying than any signboard.
Visiting
The Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House is a private home. The interior is not open, and a visit means looking at the exterior from Shinjuku-dori. Please stay off the plot and do not lean in at the windows or the gateway.
Photography of the exterior from the public street is not restricted. Take care not to include residents or the interior of the entrance.
By public transport, take the JR Mito Line to Iwase Station and change to the Sakuragawa city bus, Yamazakura GO, getting off at Shimojuku or Kamijuku in the old town. From Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, ride the Tsukuba city bus north shuttle to Tsukubasanguchi and change to Yamazakura GO there; allow about 90 minutes end to end. By car it is about 40 minutes from the Tsuchiura-kita interchange on the Joban Expressway.
From early February to 3 March each year Makabe holds its Hina Matsuri, when households across the town set out their doll displays in shopfronts and reception rooms. Taking part is each family's own decision, so the Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House is not guaranteed to be open in any given year. Checking with the Sakuragawa City Commerce and Tourism Division on 0296-55-1159 before you travel is the reliable way to find out.
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Q&A
- Can I go inside the Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House?
- No. It remains a private residence and the interior is closed. Viewing is limited to the exterior, which is fully visible from Shinjuku-dori.
- Is photography allowed at the Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House?
- Photographing the exterior from the public street is fine. Do not enter the plot, photograph inside the entrance, or photograph the people who live there.
- How do I reach the Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House by train and bus?
- From Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line take the Yamazakura GO city bus and alight at Shimojuku or Kamijuku. Coming from Tsukuba Station, use the north shuttle to Tsukubasanguchi and change there; the whole trip takes roughly 90 minutes.
- When was the Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House built and registered?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs places construction between 1830 and 1868, at the end of the Edo period. It was entered on the register of cultural properties on 27 October 2017 under number 08-0300.
- What exactly is the misegura part of the Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House?
- A misegura is a shop built with storehouse walls: thick earthen construction finished in plaster, with heavy shutters at the openings. Makabe's merchants adopted the form after the town fire of 1837, and this is one of the earlier surviving examples.
Basic Information
| Name | Adachi Family Residence Shop Storehouse and Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 424-1 Shinjukucho, Makabecho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2017 (Heisei 29) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 135 square meters |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Interior closed to the public; exterior visible from Shinjuku-dori |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs: Adachike Jutaku Misegura oyobi Shuoku
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011860
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education: Adachike Jutaku Misegura oyobi Shuoku and two other structures
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-5932/
- Sakuragawa City: Makabe Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/education/bunkazai/city_bunkazai/kuni_bunkazai/page003423.html
- Sakuragawa City: The townscape of Makabe
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/tourism_guide/learn/page000455.html
Last verified: 2026.09.05