One brick building in a street of plaster
The Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse (旧野村さとう店煉瓦蔵, Kyū Nomura Satō-ten Rengagura) is a middle Meiji era brick storehouse at the north end of the Nomura plot in Chuo 1-chome, Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 1 August 2016. It is single-story with a tiled roof and a building area of 28 square meters, and it is the only one of the 4 registered buildings on the plot built of brick.
The old castle town of Tsuchiura is a town of earthen storehouses, walls of clay finished in white lime plaster. Among them stands one wall of fired brick. The Agency for Cultural Affairs puts that contrast at the centre of its assessment of the Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse.
It sits north of the shop and main house, towards the back of the plot, with its ridge running north to south. The walls are tall for the roof they carry. The building is single-story today, but it is said to have had 2 stories originally.
The dating is middle Meiji, 1883 to 1897. The Tsuchiura City Tourism Association describes the building as raised in brick in 1892. Repairs were carried out in 2002 and again in 2012.
English bond and arched heads
The criterion behind the listing is the contribution the building makes to the historic landscape of the country, and the register number is 08-0293.
The brickwork is laid in English bond: one course showing only stretchers, the long face of the brick, then one course showing only headers, the short end, alternating all the way up. On the wall this reads as a band of long rectangles, then a band of small near-squares, then long again. Meiji era Japan used English bond widely for government buildings, mills and warehouses, since it carries load more reliably than the Flemish arrangement that alternates the two within a single course.
Every opening is spanned by an arch. Brick has little tensile strength, so a window or door head cannot simply be bridged by a horizontal beam. Wedge-shaped voussoirs pressing against one another push the load sideways into the wall instead. The structural requirement is the whole of the decoration.
A brick storehouse on a merchant's plot says something about how quickly Meiji Tsuchiura took up new materials. The shop and main house, the side storehouse and the document storehouse were listed on the same day, so timber framing, earthen storehouse construction and brickwork entered the register together, still standing side by side on one plot. In December 2024 Tsuchiura City also listed the property as its fourth Historic Landscape Formation Building.
What to look at
Go close to the wall and read the joints. The proportion of each brick, the width of the mortar bed, the switch from stretcher course to header course: those three tell you the bond without any need for a label. Where bricks have been replaced, the repair shows as a difference in colour.
Then step back for the height. Walls this tall under a single-story roof do not look like an ordinary single-story building, and the proportion supports the account that the Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse once rose to 2 stories.
The building now works as a café. The brick is left exposed inside rather than plastered over, so the bond you traced outside continues around you while you sit. Few registered buildings let you study their structure this slowly.
Taken in order from the street, the plot runs: timber shop and main house, earthen side storehouse to its east, then the document storehouse and this one at the rear. Material and technique change from building to building, which is a fair picture of how wide a span the Meiji era covered.
Visiting the Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse
The Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse is open as the café of Tsuchiura Machikado-gura Nomura. The facility as a whole opens from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and closes from 29 December to 3 January, and admission to the site is free.
The café keeps shorter hours than the site. The Tsuchiura City Tourism Association gives 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Reservations are not taken and the whole café is non-smoking. Seeing the interior at leisure means going during café hours.
On foot the building is around 10 minutes from Tsuchiura Station on the JR Joban Line, taking the west exit. Drivers reach it in roughly 10 minutes from the Joban Expressway, leaving at Sakuratsuchiura or Tsuchiura-kita.
No photography rule is published. Other customers are present during service, so choose an angle that keeps them out of frame, or ask the staff first.
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Q&A
- Can I go inside the Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse, and when?
- It operates as a café, so entry is during café hours: 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. Reservations are not accepted.
- How is the brickwork of the Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse laid?
- In English bond, alternating a course of stretchers with a course of headers. Arches span the tops of the openings.
- How many stories does the Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse have?
- It is single-story now. The walls stand unusually tall, and the building is said to have had 2 stories originally.
- When was the Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives the middle Meiji era, 1883 to 1897. The Tsuchiura City Tourism Association dates the brickwork to 1892.
- How do I reach the Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse from Tsuchiura Station?
- Take the west exit at Tsuchiura Station on the JR Joban Line and walk around 10 minutes to Nakajo-dori; the brick building stands at the back of the plot. By car, allow roughly 10 minutes from Sakuratsuchiura or Tsuchiura-kita interchange.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Nomura Sugar Store Brick Storehouse (旧野村さとう店煉瓦蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 950 and 952 (merged), Chuo 1-chome, Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), register number 08-0293 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 1 August 2016 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 28 square meters; brick construction, single-story, tiled roof |
| Owner | Tsuchiura City |
| Public Access | Open as the café of Tsuchiura Machikado-gura Nomura; the site opens 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 Rengagura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00011058
- 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