Kimura Family Residence (Kotabe Flower Shop) Main House: A Dwelling Built Like a Storehouse
The Kimura Family Residence (Kotabe Flower Shop) Main House (木村家住宅（小田部生花店）主屋) is a two-story house of clay-walled construction standing behind the family's shop in the Makabe district of Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, built before 1853 in the late Edo period and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 October 2000.
Merchant towns across Japan have fireproof storehouses. What Makabe has, in this plot on Gojinya-mae-dori, is a family that extended the same heavy clay shell over the rooms it actually lived in. The Agency for Cultural Affairs, describing the property, singles out exactly that: shop and house here were put up as a single piece of Dozo-zukuri work.
The reason lies in the third month of 1837, when fire took the Kimura house along with much of the town. Rebuilding, the family did not treat the dwelling as the cheap part of the job. The main house runs six bays along its ridge and three and a half bays deep, four in places, under a gabled roof, and its outer walls are built up the same way as the shop's. Floor area is 79 square meters.
Inside, the ground floor holds three tatami rooms and a boarded floor. Three more tatami rooms occupy the upper story, fitted with an alcove and shelving. That last detail is worth pausing on. Second floors in storehouse-built town buildings were usually for goods, not for guests.
Why the Kimura Family Residence Main House Was Registered
The main house was registered on 18 October 2000 under register number 08-0039, on the ground that it is a model of its type. The wording matters: a Registered Tangible Cultural Property is registered, not designated. The register itself was created in 1996 as a lighter framework for ordinary buildings still standing in ordinary use.
The evaluation turns on the pairing. A shop-storehouse on the street was a normal ambition for a prospering Edo-period merchant. Carrying the same construction through to the private quarters behind was not, because clay walls are slow to build, expensive, and awkward to open up for light and air. Ibaraki Prefecture's cultural properties record calls the Kimura buildings a scarce surviving example of late Edo work for the Kanto region as a whole.
Documentation supports the dating. A drawing of the entire Kimura plot has stayed with the property, and the arrangement it shows agrees closely with what stands there now, which places the rebuilding no later than 1853. Registered buildings are usually dated by style; being able to check a plan against the ground is a different order of certainty.
Context also counts. Makabe was selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings on 29 June 2010, an area of roughly 17.6 hectares, and more than 100 buildings in the town hold individual registration. The Kimura Family Residence stands in Takajomachi, near the middle of that area.
What to Look For
The main house is not a street-front building, so seeing it takes a little positioning. From Gojinya-mae-dori, look along the north side of the shop. The ridge of the Kimura Family Residence Main House runs at right angles to the shop's and meets it toward the rear, so the two form an L on the ground.
That junction is the thing to study. Two clay-walled volumes of different heights and directions had to be joined without breaking the fireproof skin of either, and the roofs had to shed water where they met. It is a carpenter's problem before it is an aesthetic one.
Compare wall surfaces next. The shop presents a nearly blank plastered face to the street; the house, sheltered behind it, could afford more openings. The gradient from public armour to private comfort is legible across a distance of a few meters.
Note also what the plan does not include. There is no separate storehouse standing apart in the yard here, because the house is doing that work itself. To the south of the shop stands the family's gate, registered separately in its own right, and the three structures read as one arrangement.
Visiting the Kimura Family Residence Main House
The Kimura Family Residence (Kotabe Flower Shop) Main House is not open for interior visits on a regular basis. Sakuragawa City, the current owner, asks that the registered buildings of Makabe be appreciated from the public street and that visitors do not enter private grounds. There is no admission charge and no ticket counter, and what can be seen of the house from the road can be seen at any hour.
Photography from the street is unrestricted. Before travelling, anyone hoping for interior access on a specific date should call the Sakuragawa City commerce and tourism section on 0296-55-1159.
The town is at its liveliest during the Makabe Hina Matsuri, held every year from 4 February to 3 March, when doll displays appear in houses and shops along these streets. Some days carry traffic restrictions in the town centre, so drivers should check the arrangements for the current year.
Getting here involves a bus at the end, since Makabe has no station of its own. The usual approach from Tokyo runs Tsukuba Express as far as Tsukuba Station, then the Tsukuba City "Tsukubus" North Shuttle out of Tsukuba Center to Tsukubasanguchi in roughly 50 minutes, with a Sakuragawa City bus covering the last 20 minutes or so. Arriving on JR instead, the connection is at Iwase on the Mito Line, again around 20 minutes out by city bus. Motorists leave the Kita-Kanto Expressway at Sakuragawa-Chikusei Interchange onto National Route 50, then Prefectural Route 41. Takajomachi car park is the closest, a few minutes' walk, and is charged during the doll festival.
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Q&A
- Can visitors see inside the Kimura Family Residence (Kotabe Flower Shop) Main House?
- Not on a regular basis. The interior is closed, and Sakuragawa City asks that Makabe's registered buildings be viewed from the street rather than from inside private grounds. Part of the house is visible from Gojinya-mae-dori alongside the shop.
- What makes the Kimura Family Residence Main House unusual among Edo-period town houses?
- The living quarters, not only the shop, were built in clay-walled construction, and the two were raised as one piece of work. Ibaraki Prefecture's record describes the pair as a scarce surviving late Edo example for the Kanto region.
- How large is the Kimura Family Residence Main House and how is it laid out?
- It covers 79 square meters, six bays by three and a half, four bays deep in places. The ground floor has three tatami rooms and a boarded floor; the upper story has three more tatami rooms with an alcove and shelving.
- Is there an admission fee for the Kimura Family Residence Main House?
- No. The buildings stand on a public street in a preservation district that anyone can walk through free of charge. For any special opening, contact the Sakuragawa City commerce and tourism section on 0296-55-1159.
- How do I reach the Kimura Family Residence Main House by public transport?
- Two buses, whichever way you come. Out of Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, the Tsukubus North Shuttle reaches Tsukubasanguchi in roughly 50 minutes and a Sakuragawa City bus finishes the trip in another 20. Via JR, change at Iwase on the Mito Line, around 20 minutes out.
Basic Information
| Name | Kimura Family Residence (Kotabe Flower Shop) Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 217-1 Takajomachi, Makabe, Makabecho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register number 08-0039 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 18 October 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, 2 stories, tile roof, building area 79 square meters |
| Owner | Sakuragawa City |
| Public Access | Visible from the street at any time; interior not open on a regular basis; no admission charge |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Agency for Cultural Affairs — Kimura Family Residence (Kotabe Flower Shop) Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001866
- Cultural Heritage Online — Kimura Family Residence (Kotabe Flower Shop) Main House
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/178086
- Sakuragawa City — Former Kimura Family Residence
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/education/bunkazai/city_bunkazai/cityregi_bunkazai/page008246.html
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education — Kimura Family Residence (Kotabe Flower Shop) Misegura and one other building
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6545/
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education — Sakuragawa City Makabe Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-8557/
Last verified: 2026.09.06