A draper's shop at the foot of Mount Tsukuba
The Former Tamura Kimono Store Shop Storehouse and Main House (旧田村呉服店ミセ蔵兼主屋, Kyū Tamura Gofukuten Misegura ken Shuoku) is a Taishō-era merchant building in the Hōjō district of Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture, registered as a national Registered Tangible Cultural Property on November 17, 2015.
Hōjō lies at the southern foot of Mount Tsukuba, where the Tsukuba-michi begins. That road was cut in the seventeenth century to carry timber and stone up to the shrine on the mountain, and it later became the pilgrims' route. The Tamura building faces it from the south end of a long, narrow plot.
The family came from Nishiyama, a settlement in the same foothills. The grandparents of the present head of the household moved down to Hōjō during the Meiji era and worked as pedlars, hauling their stock on a handcart. Late in the Taishō era (1912-1926) they took this plot and opened a shop. They sold gofuku, the silk cloth used for kimono, and futomono, the cotton and hemp weaves that most people actually wore.
One roof covers two functions. The front half is the misegura, a shop built with the thick earthen walls of a storehouse; the back half is the family's main house. It rises 2 storeys in Dozo-zukuri, carries a tiled roof, covers 152 square metres, and sends a connecting roof back towards the storehouse behind. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database treats the western upper storey as original and the eastern one as an addition of the early Shōwa period (1926-1945). Further work followed in the later Shōwa period (1966-1989) and again around 2012.
Why the building was registered
The Former Tamura Kimono Store Shop Storehouse and Main House was entered on the register under the criterion covering buildings that contribute to the historic character of the landscape. Registration as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property assumes the building will stay in use, which is why a shop that is still trading in a different form qualifies. On the same day, November 17, 2015, the storehouse, the grain storehouse with its bathhouse, and the kitchen standing behind the Tamura shop were each registered as well, so the whole merchant compound of 4 buildings was recognised together.
The national database singles out the front elevation as unusual, with 2 hip-roofed upper storeys presenting their gable ends to the street, and notes that the heavy black plaster walls make the building a landmark in the district.
That recognition came soon after a bad year. On May 6, 2012, a tornado tore through Hōjō. The joint field survey by the National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management and the Building Research Institute recorded collapsed timber buildings and roofing scattered across a wide area; the gust was first rated F2 on the Fujita scale and later revised to F3. The repair that the database records for the Tamura shop, dated to around 2012, falls in the same year. Much of the streetscape was lost, and what survived was registered three years later.
What to look at
Stand on the street and look up at the Former Tamura Kimono Store Shop Storehouse and Main House, and you will see 2 roofs, not one. Both are Yosemune-zukuri, and both turn their gable end towards the road, an arrangement called Tsumairi. The western upper storey is original; the eastern one went up in the early Shōwa period. Eaves height and projection were matched, so from across the street the pair reads as a single block. Walk closer and follow the joint in the wall and the run of the roof tiles, and the two building campaigns separate.
The walls are black. Shikkui plaster is usually finished white; black comes from pine soot worked into the top coat, and it costs more in both labour and material. On a town house that borrowed the fireproof construction of a storehouse for its shopfront, that black surface announced what kind of business was inside.
A Geya, a lean-to one bay deep, runs along the whole front. It is deep enough to stand under in the rain, and it did double duty as the place where bales were opened and the place where customers stopped. For a trade built on unrolling bolts of cloth for inspection, that half-sheltered strip earned its keep.
The 1st-floor shop still draws people in. It is now the Hōjō Fureai-kan.
Visiting the Former Tamura Kimono Store Shop Storehouse and Main House
The 1st-floor shop is open to the public as the Hōjō Fureai-kan on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., free of charge. It is run by the Hōjō Machizukuri Shinkōkai, a local town-improvement association whose members take turns behind the counter. The room opened in August 2012 and works as both a visitor information point and a rest stop. The telephone number is 080-6788-0693.
Access is limited to that one room. The 2nd floor and the residential part behind it are closed, as are the storehouse, the grain storehouse with its bathhouse, and the kitchen further back on the plot.
No published photography rule could be found. The exterior is visible from the street; inside, ask whoever is minding the shop before taking pictures.
By public transport, start from Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, at the Tsukuba Center bus terminal. The Tsukuba Bus Hokubu Shuttle reaches Tsukuba Kōryū Center in about 40 minutes, leaving a walk of about 10 minutes. The Oda Shuttle stops at Hōjō Nakamachi, directly in front of the building, but takes a roundabout route and needs close to an hour. Published sources do not say if the property has its own car park, so drivers should call the Hōjō Fureai-kan first.
The street outside is the Tsukuba-michi, one of Japan's hundred selected roads. A stone waymarker rebuilt in 1798 stands at Hōjō Nakamachi, and from there it is about 4 kilometres up to Tsukuba-san Shrine. The shopfront of the Former Tamura Kimono Store Shop Storehouse and Main House sits at the start of that climb.
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Q&A
- Can you visit the Former Tamura Kimono Store Shop Storehouse and Main House, and what does it cost?
- The 1st-floor shop is open as the Hōjō Fureai-kan on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is free. The local Hōjō Machizukuri Shinkōkai runs it; the telephone number is 080-6788-0693.
- Is the upper storey or the living quarters of the Tamura shop open to visitors?
- No. Only the 1st-floor shop room is open. The upper storey, the main house behind it, and the storehouse, grain storehouse and kitchen at the rear of the plot are all closed.
- When was the Former Tamura Kimono Store Shop Storehouse and Main House built, and when was it registered?
- It dates from the Taishō era (1912-1926); the eastern upper storey is thought to be an early Shōwa addition (1926-1945). It was entered on the national register of tangible cultural properties on November 17, 2015.
- How do you get to the Former Tamura Kimono Store Shop Storehouse and Main House from the nearest station?
- From Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, take the Hokubu Shuttle from the Tsukuba Center terminal to Tsukuba Kōryū Center, about 40 minutes, then walk about 10 minutes. The Oda Shuttle stops right outside at Hōjō Nakamachi but takes nearly an hour.
- Why are the walls of the Tamura shop black rather than white?
- The lime plaster is coloured with pine soot. Black plaster costs more to make and to apply than the usual white finish, and on a shop built in storehouse construction it signalled the standing of the business.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Tamura Kimono Store Shop Storehouse and Main House (旧田村呉服店ミセ蔵兼主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 39-1 Hinata, Hōjō, Tsukuba City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on November 17, 2015 (Heisei 27) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Storehouse construction, 2 storeys, tiled roof, footprint 152 square metres, with connecting roof |
| Owner | Private (the Tamura family) |
| Public Access | The 1st-floor shop is open as the Hōjō Fureai-kan on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., free of charge. The 2nd floor and the main house are closed |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Database of Designated Cultural Properties: Kyu Tamura Gofukuten Misegura ken Shuoku
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010739
- Cultural Heritage Online: Kyu Tamura Gofukuten Misegura ken Shuoku
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/213464
- Tsukuba City: Protection of Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.tsukuba.lg.jp/soshikikarasagasu/kyoikukyokubunkazaika/gyomuannai/2/1/1001638.html
- Tsukuba City: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties in Tsukuba (PDF)
- https://www.city.tsukuba.lg.jp/material/files/group/156/R8_tsukuba_tourokubunkazai.pdf
- Hojo Machizukuri Shinkokai: Highlights of Hojo
- https://tsukuba-hojo.jp/highlights/
- Hojo Machizukuri Shinkokai: Hojo Fureai-kan
- https://tsukuba-hojo.jp/town/
- National Institute for Land and Infrastructure Management and Building Research Institute: Field Survey of Building Damage from the Tsukuba Tornado of May 6, 2012 (PDF)
- https://www.kenken.go.jp/japanese/contents/activities/other/disaster/kaze/2012tsukuba/120506-tsukuba.pdf
- Tsukuba City: Tsukuba Bus community bus guide
- https://www.city.tsukuba.lg.jp/soshikikarasagasu/toshikeikakubusogokotsuseisakuka/gyomuannai/2/1/1001471.html
Last verified: 2026.09.07