The Wakigura of Buyu: The Storehouse That Completes the Street
Stand in front of the Buyu brewery on the old merchant street in Yuki, Ibaraki, and the eye runs from the broad misegura shopfront to a narrower plastered storehouse pressed against its western side. This is the wakigura, the side storehouse. It is the smallest of the brewery's buildings, and its job, in a sense, is to belong: set beside the shop and facing the same street, it carries the row of frontage on and gives the brewery its weight along the pavement.
Buyu has stood here since the Keio era, around 1867, when Hosaka Yukichi came from Echigo, today Niigata, and began brewing in a castle town already known for its silk. The shop beside the wakigura is reckoned the oldest surviving merchant storehouse in Yuki, from the close of the Edo period. The side storehouse came later, in the later Meiji era, raised against the shop to extend the street wall westward.
What Registration Means Here
The wakigura was placed on Japan's national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 25 July 2011, one of six Buyu structures taken in together during the seventieth round of registration. Its number is 08-0244.
Registration is a different thing from designation. National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties are designated and tightly controlled. The registered tier, used here, began in 1996 to protect the wide stock of buildings around fifty years old or older that hold a region's historical look, and it favours preservation through everyday use. The criterion recorded for the wakigura, shared with the other five Buyu structures, is its contribution to the historical landscape of the country. A small storehouse like this earns its place less for grandeur than for the way it completes a streetscape, which is precisely what the criterion rewards.
Reading the Street Face
The wakigura is a dozo, an earthen-walled storehouse, recorded as two storeys with a footprint of about 49 square metres. Its plan runs roughly 11 metres along the ridge by some 4.5 metres deep, east to west, under a gabled roof of flat sangawara pantile. A local account describes the eastern two bays as carrying a mezzanine loft used for storage, so the interior height is not even across the building.
The street side, facing north, is where the design speaks. The walls are finished in white lime plaster, but along the base toward the street the builders set a band of stone, and above it the wall is clad in vertical boarding rather than left plain. The entrance is a sliding door on the south face, away from the street. Beside the larger shop, the wakigura makes a quieter companion, and the two together give the frontage its sense of a single, settled merchant house.
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Q&A
- What does wakigura mean?
- Waki means side, and kura means storehouse, so the name simply marks its position beside the main shop. It stands immediately west of the misegura and runs along the same street.
- How old is it?
- The national record places it in the later Meiji era. Local observation supports this: it was built after the adjoining shop, with which it does not share an outer wall and against which its street frontage shows a slight offset.
- Why does the street side look different from a plain plaster wall?
- Toward the street the base is faced with stone and the wall above it clad in vertical boards, a practical and visually distinct treatment for the exposed frontage. The plain plaster covers the rest of the building.
- Can I go inside?
- This is part of a working brewery. Paid guided tours have been run before, but the latest notice lists them as suspended, so check the official Buyu website. The wakigura is best appreciated from the street as part of the brewery's frontage.
- Where is the brewery, and what is Yuki known for?
- Buyu is in the Uramachi area of central Yuki, about a 10 to 15 minute walk from JR Yuki Station on the Mito Line. Yuki is the home of Yuki-tsumugi silk, recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2010, and a town lined with old storehouses.
Basic Information
| Name | Buyu Wakigura (side storehouse) |
|---|---|
| Location | 144 Uramachi, Oaza Yuki, Yuki City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Registered | 25 July 2011 (registration no. 08-0244) |
| Criterion | Contributing to the historical landscape of the nation |
| Date | Later Meiji era |
| Structure | Earthen-walled (dozo), two storeys, tiled roof; building area approx. 49 m² |
| Count | 1 building |
| Owner | Buyu Co., Ltd. |
| Access | Approx. 10-15 min walk from JR Yuki Station (Mito Line) |
References
- National Database of Designated Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs) — Buyu Wakigura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00008624
- Yuki City Official Website — Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Buyu)
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kosodate-kyouiku/shougaigakushuu/bunkazai/bunkazai/tourokuyuukei/page003240.html
- Buyu Co., Ltd. — History
- https://buyu.jp/history/
Last verified: 2026.06.25