The smallest of the three registered buildings
The Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse (旧植竹庄兵衛家住宅土蔵) is a 2-story earthen-walled storehouse of 1937 at Dainichikubo in Edosaki, Inashiki City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 2 October 2007 (Heisei 19). Its building area is 20 square meters. Beside a western-style building of 173 square meters and a Japanese-style building of 94 square meters on the same grounds, it is the smallest of the three registered structures by a wide margin.
It is also the one visitors walk past.
The storehouse meets the northwest corner of the Japanese-style building, and its ridge runs east to west. It measures 3 ken along the ridge and 2 ken across, one ken being roughly 1.8 meters, and is built in the Dozo-zukuri manner with thick earthen walls. The roof is a gable laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles, in the Kirizuma-zukuri form, and the doorway sits at the east end of the south wall, so the building is entered from its long side rather than from a gable end.
The estate as a whole goes by the name Dainichien. It was built for Uetake Shobei, the driving force behind the reclamation of Edosaki-iri, an inlet of shallow water and marsh that once reached inland from Lake Kasumigaura. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the construction year as 1937. The city of Inashiki, in its municipal newsletter of August 2007, adds that the ridge-raising ceremony was held in 1937 and the house was entered in the land register in 1939.
Why the storehouse was registered in its own right
The Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse carries registration number 08-0225 and was accepted under the criterion that a building contributes to the historic landscape of Japan. The western-style building, number 08-0223, and the Japanese-style building, number 08-0224, went on the register the same day under the same Registered Tangible Cultural Property scheme.
The reason a small utility building was listed separately lies in its surface. Its outer walls are neither the white lime nor the black plaster of an ordinary farm storehouse. They are mortar, scored with fine joint lines so that the wall reads as courses of cut stone, which is exactly the treatment given to the western-style building at the front of the estate. A building for tools and stores was finished to the standard of the reception rooms.
Storehouses are normally kept clear of the living quarters. Fire is the reason, and separation is the traditional insurance. Here the builder chose the opposite: the storehouse is joined to the residence, and the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education records that it connects to the west veranda corridor of the Japanese-style building. The three buildings were designed to be read together, and the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse is the piece that shows the intention most plainly, because it had the least reason to be treated so carefully.
What to look for at the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse
Start with the two gable ends. Each is pierced by a window, and each window is given its own small eave and a pair of short wing walls, called sodekabe, standing out from the wall face to throw off rain. These are the details that separate a considered storehouse from a merely serviceable one.
Inside, the roof frame is the thing to see. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a double-beam construction and calls the effect forceful, an unusually direct verdict in a database that mostly confines itself to dimensions. Two tiers of beams span the 2 ken width, and the timber is left exposed. A 20 square meter footprint gives the frame nowhere to hide.
Then step back to the south side and compare surfaces. On the western-style building the scored mortar sits under a slate roof and a semicircular pediment, and the illusion of stone is easy to accept. On the storehouse the same mortar sits beneath clay pantiles, over earthen walls, on a building with no ornament at all. The technique is identical; the effect is quite different, and seeing them within a few paces of each other is the best argument for visiting all three buildings rather than only the photogenic one.
Visiting the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse
The Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse is in private ownership and is not open on a fixed schedule. The Agency for Cultural Affairs lists the owner as Mitomo Service Co., Ltd. Since the registration, the estate has been looked after with the involvement of a local preservation body, the NPO Inashiki Traditional Culture Preservation Society, which the city of Inashiki gave as the contact point at the time, and viewing has generally been arranged by telephone in advance. Opening days are irregular and the buildings are sometimes closed for private hire or filming, so contact the manager before setting out. Do not assume the interior of the storehouse can be entered even when the grounds are open.
Photography is a matter for the manager to decide, and the same call that arranges a visit is the moment to ask. The estate has been used as a location for television and film work, which is a reason for caution rather than a green light.
Inashiki City has no railway station. The usual approach is by bus from JR Tsuchiura Station on the Joban Line, taking the JR Bus Kanto Kasumigaura Line as far as Edosaki, a ride of about 45 minutes. From the Edosaki-sakaue bus stop the walk to the estate takes about 3 minutes, uphill onto the terrace that overlooks the reclaimed land. Drivers come off the Ken-o Expressway at Inashiki Interchange. There is parking on the site, in the open ground inside the gate.
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Q&A
- Can the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse be visited?
- Not on a fixed timetable. The building is privately owned and stands within the Dainichien estate, which opens irregularly. Viewing has customarily been arranged in advance with the local preservation society that manages the site, and entry to the storehouse interior is not guaranteed even when the grounds are open.
- When was the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse built and registered?
- It was built in 1937. It was entered on the register of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on 2 October 2007, under registration number 08-0225, together with the western-style and Japanese-style buildings of the same residence.
- How big is the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse?
- The building area is 20 square meters, on a plan of 3 ken by 2 ken, and it rises 2 stories. The roof is tiled and the walls are earthen construction finished in mortar.
- How do I reach the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse from Tokyo?
- Take the Joban Line to Tsuchiura, then the JR Bus Kanto Kasumigaura Line to Edosaki, about 45 minutes. The estate is roughly 3 minutes on foot from the Edosaki-sakaue bus stop. By car, leave the Ken-o Expressway at Inashiki Interchange.
- Is photography allowed at the Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse?
- Ask the manager when arranging the visit. The site is private property and has been used for commercial filming, so permission is granted case by case rather than as a standing rule.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 2354 Dainichikubo, Edosaki, Inashiki City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), registration number 08-0225 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 2 October 2007 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 20 square meters; 3 ken along the ridge, 2 ken across; 2 stories |
| Owner | Mitomo Service Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Not regularly open; viewing by prior arrangement with the manager |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006437
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence Storehouse
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/191160
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education, Cultural Properties of Ibaraki: Former Uetake Shobei Family Residence, Western-Style Building and two others
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6077/
- City of Inashiki, Koho Inashiki, August 2007 issue (No. 29)
- https://www.city.inashiki.lg.jp/data/doc/1254669620_doc_2.pdf
- City of Inashiki: Transport access
- https://www.city.inashiki.lg.jp/page/page000119.html
Last verified: 2026.09.06