The House Behind the Shop
The Miwa Family Residence Main House (三輪家住宅主屋, Miwa-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is the living quarters of an early Taishō-era townhouse at Makabe in Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 October 2000. It is a single-storey building attached to the back of the shop storehouse that fronts the street, and almost nothing of it can be seen from Takajōmachi-dōri.
It measures 4 ken by 3 ken, the ken being the bay unit that sets the spacing of a Japanese timber frame. The construction is wooden, under a tiled Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof, with a building area of 49 square meters. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the structure as a single-storey timber building, while its commentary describes the house as forming one continuous piece of Dozo-zukuri work with the shop in front, which is to say that the plaster finish carries through from the street building to the rooms behind it.
The register number is 08-0037. The Miwa family has traded in footwear on this plot for 3 generations, and this is the building where that household has lived.
A Deep Plot, Front to Back
Townhouses in Makabe tend to sit on plots that are narrow at the street and long behind it, and the Miwa plot follows that shape. The 2-storey shop storehouse takes the frontage on Takajōmachi-dōri; the Miwa Family Residence Main House is set behind it, joined on like a further link in a chain. Commerce at the front, private life at the back, arranged along the depth of the site rather than side by side.
There is sense in the arrangement. Buildings in Dozo-zukuri carry thick walls and few openings, which keeps fire out but also keeps daylight from getting far inside. A wooden single-storey wing at the rear can draw light and air from the garden. Makabe turned to storehouse construction after a great fire in 1837, yet timber remained the material of choice for the parts of a house where people actually lived.
This was never a grand property. Add the 49 square meters of the Miwa Family Residence Main House to the 28 square meters of the shop in front and the total reaches 77 square meters, modest by the standards of the merchant houses along these streets.
Six Mats, Then Eight
The sequence of rooms is on record. Behind the counting area on the shop's ground floor comes a 6-mat sitting room, and beyond that an 8-mat guest room. Ordinary business was settled at the front, familiar callers were shown into the sitting room, and formal visitors were taken all the way to the back. A merchant household received people in stages, and the plan of the building is what made those stages possible.
That 8-mat guest room has a Tokonoma alcove, staggered display shelves, and a Tsukeshoin built-in writing alcove beneath a window. These are elements of Shoin-zukuri, the formal reception style of samurai residences and temple quarters, brought into a single room of a shopkeeper's house. The Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education calls the room a composed piece of shoin-influenced design. Set against a building area of 49 square meters, it means a large share of the house was given over to receiving guests.
The Miwa Family Residence Main House remains a lived-in home, so there is little prospect of seeing these rooms in person. What is known of the plan comes from the records kept by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the prefectural board.
Visiting the Miwa Family Residence Main House
The Miwa Family Residence Main House is privately owned, and neither the interior nor the exterior is open to visitors. What meets the eye from the street is the shop storehouse in front; the low roof behind it gives little away. There is no admission charge and no opening time, and the plot itself cannot be entered.
The same applies to photography. Shooting the front of the shop storehouse from Takajōmachi-dōri is acceptable, but avoid framing anything inside the property or any part of the residents' daily life.
Between February and 3 March each year, Makabe holds the Makabe Hina Matsuri. More than 100 households put out doll displays, and shopfronts that stay shut the rest of the year sometimes open. The list of participating houses changes annually, so anyone hoping to see a particular building should ask the Sakuragawa Tourism Association first.
Drivers will find the Takajōmachi car park at 279-1 Makabe, Makabe-cho, about 2 minutes away on foot. By public transport from Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, take the Tsukuba city bus north shuttle to Tsukubasanguchi, change to the Sakuragawa city bus Yamazakura GO and get off at Shimojuku; allow about 90 minutes. From Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line, the same Yamazakura GO service takes about 40 minutes to Shimojuku, and Takajōmachi-dōri is a 5-minute walk from there. Rental bicycles at Iwase Station make the 10 kilometers to Makabe along the Tsukuba Kasumigaura Ring Ring Road a further option. (Checked 8 September 2026)
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Q&A
- Can the Miwa Family Residence Main House be visited, and is there a fee?
- No. It is a private home and is not open to the public. The building also sits behind the shop storehouse, so very little of it is visible from the street. There is no admission fee and no set opening time.
- How is the Miwa Family Residence Main House related to the shop storehouse in front of it?
- The 2-storey shop storehouse faces Takajōmachi-dōri and the single-storey main house is attached at its rear, giving a shop at the front and living quarters behind. They were registered separately, the shop as 08-0036 and the main house as 08-0037.
- When was the Miwa Family Residence Main House built and registered?
- It dates from the early Taishō era, between 1912 and 1925, and was entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 October 2000.
- What is the guest room of the Miwa Family Residence Main House like?
- It is an 8-mat room with an alcove, staggered display shelves, and a built-in writing alcove, following the formal shoin manner. A 6-mat sitting room lies between it and the shop counter, so rooms run in sequence from the front of the plot to the back.
- How do you reach the Miwa Family Residence Main House?
- The Yamazakura GO city bus runs from Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line to the Shimojuku stop in about 40 minutes, followed by a 5-minute walk. Drivers can use the Takajōmachi car park at 279-1 Makabe, Makabe-cho, about 2 minutes away.
Basic Information
| Name | Miwa Family Residence Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 229 Makabe, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register number 08-0037 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 18 October 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber single-storey, tile roof, 4 ken by 3 ken, building area 49 square meters |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Not open to the public; barely visible from the street behind the shop storehouse; no admission charge |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Miwa Family Residence Main House (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001864
- National Cultural Properties Database, Miwa Family Residence Misegura (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001863
- Cultural Properties of Ibaraki, Miwa Family Residence Misegura and One Other Building (Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education)
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6541/
- National Cultural Properties Database, Makabe, Sakuragawa City (Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/103/00000090
- Makabe Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (Sakuragawa City)
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/education/bunkazai/city_bunkazai/kuni_bunkazai/page003423.html
- Sakuragawa City Bus Yamazakura GO Service Information (Sakuragawa City)
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/kurashi/koutsu/page005762.html
Last verified: 2026.09.07