A merchant house on the old Mito highway
The Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House (旧野村さとう店店舗兼主屋, Kyū Nomura Satō-ten Tenpo-ken-shuoku) is a timber-framed merchant house in Chuo 1-chome, Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture, built in the middle of the Meiji era and entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 1 August 2016. It has 2 stories, a tiled roof and a building area of 84 square meters.
The Nomura family had traded here since the Edo period. Tsuchiura City records that from the Meiji era onward the household did business under the name Nomura Satō-ten, wholesaling sugar and mizuame, a thick malt syrup used as a sweetener before refined sugar became cheap. Satō means sugar, and the shop sign carried the word in hiragana.
The plan is the interesting part. The shop range runs east to west; the living range runs north to south. The two meet in a T, so what a passer-by sees from the street is the long flank of the shop range rather than a gable. The building is a full 2 stories, the upper floor carried across almost the whole footprint.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the building to the middle Meiji era, 1883 to 1897, with repairs carried out in 2002.
Why it was registered
The registration criterion applied here is the contribution a building makes to the historic landscape of the country. The register number is 08-0290. Three storehouses on the same plot, the side storehouse, the document storehouse and the brick storehouse, were listed on the same day, so the Nomura compound entered the register as a set of 4 buildings.
Nakajo-dori, the street outside, is a surviving stretch of the old Mito Kaidō highway and was the commercial spine of Tsuchiura throughout the Edo period. Plastered Machiya townhouses still stand along it, among them the Yaguchi Family Residence, a prefecturally designated property. The Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House is one of the buildings that gives this street its edge, presenting its front to the road rather than retreating behind a wall.
In December 2024 Tsuchiura City listed the Nomura property as its fourth Historic Landscape Formation Building. The municipal register cites the fact that the Yasaka Shrine Gion festival carries its portable shrine past this frontage. The property is also the city's second Landscape Important Building.
What to look at
Start with the eaves. The purlins are cantilevered forward of the column line in a technique called degeta-zukuri, which pushes the eaves out well beyond the wall. In afternoon light the shadow lands as a hard horizontal band across the upper storey.
The second-floor front is clad in sasarako shitami itabari, a variety of Shitami-itabari weatherboarding. Boards are lapped horizontally and held by battens notched to fit each lap. The result is a close ruled pattern of shadow lines, quite unlike the flat white plaster of the storehouses behind.
Inside, the building works as part of a visitor facility called Tsuchiura Machikado-gura Nomura. The ground floor is a rest area where you can try hand weaving and plant dyeing. The upper floor holds household objects from the shop's working years. Few registered merchant houses let you take your shoes off and walk the floor.
Across the road stands Machikado-gura Daitoku, the converted premises of the Daitoku kimono shop. Standing at the front of the Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House, you see two merchant houses facing each other across the old highway, which is close to how the street worked.
Visiting the Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House
The Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House is open all year as Tsuchiura Machikado-gura Nomura, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. It closes from 29 December to 3 January. Admission is free and no booking is needed.
The nearest station is Tsuchiura on the JR Joban Line. Leave by the west exit and walk about 10 minutes to Nakajo-dori. By car it is roughly 10 minutes from the Sakuratsuchiura or Tsuchiura-kita interchange on the Joban Expressway.
No photography rule is published. The ground floor doubles as a rest area and workshop and the brick storehouse at the back is a café, so ask at the reception desk before photographing anywhere other visitors appear.
From February into early March the Tsuchiura Hina Doll Festival uses the Machikado-gura buildings as its main venue and the displays inside change for the season.
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Q&A
- Can you go inside the Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House, and what does it cost?
- Yes. It is open as Tsuchiura Machikado-gura Nomura from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed from 29 December to 3 January, and admission is free.
- How do I reach the Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House from Tsuchiura Station?
- Walk about 10 minutes from the west exit of Tsuchiura Station on the JR Joban Line. Drivers need roughly 10 minutes from the Sakuratsuchiura or Tsuchiura-kita interchange.
- How old is the Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs places it in the middle Meiji era, between 1883 and 1897, with repairs in 2002.
- What is there to do inside the Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House?
- The ground floor is a rest area offering hand weaving and plant dyeing. The upper floor is a display room of everyday objects from the shop's working life.
- Is photography allowed at the Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House?
- No rule is published. Because the rooms are used as a rest area and workshop, check at reception before photographing where other visitors are present.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Nomura Sugar Store Shop and Main House (旧野村さとう店店舗兼主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 950 and 952 (merged), Chuo 1-chome, Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), register number 08-0290 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 1 August 2016 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 84 square meters; timber framed, 2 stories, tiled roof |
| Owner | Tsuchiura City |
| Public Access | Open as Tsuchiura Machikado-gura Nomura, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed 29 December to 3 January, admission free |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Kyu Nomura Sato-ten Tenpo-ken-shuoku
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00011055
- Tsuchiura City: Historic Landscape Formation Building designation system
- https://www.city.tsuchiura.lg.jp/kankyo-kotsu-machizukuri/toshikeikaku-machizukuri/keikan/fuuchi-keisei-kenzoubutsu.html
- Tsuchiura City: Historic Landscape Formation Building register, no. 4, Former Nomura Sugar Store
- https://www.city.tsuchiura.lg.jp/data/doc/1742370004_doc_34_0.pdf
- Tsuchiura City: Scenic spots and historic sites
- https://www.city.tsuchiura.lg.jp/kanko-bunka-sports/kanko-matsuri-event/kanko/page001098.html
- Tsuchiura City public bulletin: registration of Machikado-gura Daitoku and Nomura
- https://www.city.tsuchiura.lg.jp/data/doc/1488350280_doc_159_1.pdf
- Tsuchiura City Tourism Association: Machikado-gura
- https://www.tsuchiura-kankou.jp/machikado_kura/
- Ibaraki Prefecture tourism site: Tsuchiura Machikado-gura Nomura
- https://www.ibarakiguide.jp/spot.php?mode=detail&code=1568
Last verified: 2026.09.07