The Shop That Faces Takajomachi-dori
The Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse (三輪家住宅見世蔵, Miwa-ke Jūtaku Misegura) is an early Taishō-era merchant shop building at Makabe in Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 October 2000. It stands on the south side of Takajōmachi-dōri, one of the streets that cross the old town east and west, and turns its front to face north onto the road.
The frame measures 3 ken by 2 ken, the ken being the bay unit that sets the spacing of a Japanese timber structure. Two storeys are built in Dozo-zukuri, the thick-walled fireproof method, under a Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles, entered on the long side in the Hirairi manner. A Geya pent roof reaches out over the ground floor, and the shop counter sits in the shade beneath it. Building area comes to 28 square meters, which is small for a street of merchant houses. The register number is 08-0036.
The Miwa family set up a footwear shop on this plot 3 generations back, and the business has carried on since. Nothing here was fenced off for preservation.
An Edo Formula, Built by Taisho Carpenters
Makabe changed its building habits after a great fire in 1837. Sakuragawa City records that the streets had until then been roofed largely in thatch and board, and that merchants began putting up shop storehouses and warehouses in the years after the blaze. A second wave of construction followed in the Meiji period, when silk reeling brought money into the town.
By the time the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse went up, somewhere between 1912 and 1925, the fashion had moved on again. The Tsukuba Railway opened in 1918 and gave Makabe its own station, and 2-storey townhouses with prominent projecting purlins spread through the town. The Miwa building did not follow that shift. Its exterior repeats the Edo-period misegura formula, and the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education uses the word "precisely" of that repetition.
Look at what the carpenter kept. The second-storey wall is carried on projecting purlins. A moulded cornice steps horizontally under the eaves. A tall boxed ridge runs the length of the roof, closed at each end by a raised plaster mound called kagemori. The walls are packed thick with white Shikkui lime plaster. The criterion cited when the building was registered is that it stands as a model of its type, and the point of interest is the date: a form already old-fashioned was reproduced without being loosened.
Reading the Front Wall
The first thing to catch the eye on the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse is the door pocket set to one side of the ground floor, with a second one directly above it. Edo shop storehouses kept their openings narrow so that fire could not reach in. Pushing both pockets to one side leaves the rest of the frontage free to open wide. The weight of a plastered wall and a modern shopkeeper's wish for a broad opening share a single elevation.
Step back across the road and the proportions become easier to judge. The boxed ridge sits surprisingly high above the white wall, and the horizontal line of the cornice can be traced along the eaves of the neighbouring houses.
Inside, the ground floor is a Doma earth floor that served as the counting area, and the upper floor is an 8-mat Zashiki with a Tokonoma alcove. None of that reads from the street, but it tells you the second storey held a room for people rather than a loft for stock. Attached at the rear is the family's living wing, registered separately as 08-0037.
The wider street is protected too. Makabe was selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings on 29 June 2010, covering about 17.6 hectares, and Sakuragawa City counts 104 registered buildings within it. The city also records that more than 90 percent of the traditional buildings in the district were damaged in the 2011 earthquake, and that repair work continued for years afterwards. Repair records for individual houses are not published, so what a visitor sees of the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse today may include restored work.
Visiting the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse
The Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse is privately owned and still occupied, so the interior is closed to visitors. Viewing means the exterior, seen from Takajōmachi-dōri. The street is a public road with no gate on it, which is to say there is no admission charge, no opening hour and no closing hour.
Photographing the exterior from the road is acceptable. Stay off the plot, and keep the residents and their daily life out of the frame.
Each year between 4 February and 3 March, Makabe holds the Makabe Hina Matsuri, and Sakuragawa City gives those dates as the usual span. More than 100 shops and houses set out doll displays and open their fronts, and the stretch of Takajōmachi-dōri around the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse is busiest then. Which houses take part changes annually, so ask the Sakuragawa Tourism Association about any particular building.
By public transport, board the Sakuragawa city bus Yamazakura GO at Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line, heading for Tsukubasanguchi, and alight at Shimojuku after about 40 minutes. The flat fare is 200 yen and Suica, PASMO and other transport IC cards are accepted. Takajōmachi-dōri is a 5-minute walk from the stop. Coming instead by Tsukuba Express, take the Tsukuba city bus north shuttle out to Tsukubasanguchi and change to the same service, which makes about 90 minutes in all. Drivers can use the Takajōmachi car park at 279-1 Makabe, Makabe-cho, about 2 minutes away on foot; a charge of 500 yen per car applies during the doll festival. Cyclists can hire a bicycle at Iwase Station and ride the 10 kilometers along the Tsukuba Kasumigaura Ring Ring Road, which is laid on the trackbed of the Tsukuba Railway after its closure in 1987. The line that once carried shoppers to Makabe now carries them back on two wheels. (Checked 9 September 2026)
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Ibaraki
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse
- [ Hitachi Seaside Park Nemophila Flower Tours ]
Q&A
- Can you go inside the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse, and is there an admission fee?
- No. It is a private home and shop and the interior is not open. Viewing is limited to the exterior from Takajōmachi-dōri, which is a public road, so there is no fee and no fixed opening time.
- When was the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse built, and when did it become a cultural property?
- It was built in the early Taishō era, between 1912 and 1925. It was entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 October 2000, under register number 08-0036.
- What should a visitor look for on the front of the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse?
- The single door pocket on each floor, both set to the same side; the projecting purlins carrying the second-storey wall; the stepped cornice under the eaves; and the tall boxed ridge with its raised plaster ends. Together they show an Edo pattern adjusted so a modern shopfront could open wide.
- Why is the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse considered worth registering?
- It was registered as a model of its type. Built well after the Edo period ended, it reproduces the Edo shop-storehouse form accurately rather than modernising it, which makes it a clear reference for how these buildings were meant to look.
- How do you reach the Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse from the nearest station?
- Take the Yamazakura GO city bus at Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line and get off at Shimojuku, about 40 minutes for a flat fare of 200 yen, then walk 5 minutes. Drivers can park at the Takajōmachi car park, roughly 2 minutes away.
Basic Information
| Name | Miwa Family Residence Shop Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 229 Makabe, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register number 08-0036 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 18 October 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, 2 storeys, pantile roof, 3 ken by 2 ken, building area 28 square meters |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Interior closed; exterior viewable at any time from Takajomachi-dori; no admission charge |
References
- National Cultural Properties Database, Miwa Family Residence Misegura (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001863
- National Cultural Properties Database, Miwa Family Residence Shuoku (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001864
- 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/
- Makabe Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, Sakuragawa City (Sakuragawa City)
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/education/bunkazai/city_bunkazai/kuni_bunkazai/page003423.html
- Makabe Hina Matsuri, Sakuragawa City Tourism Guide (Sakuragawa City)
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/tourism_guide/play/page002066.html
- Sakuragawa City Bus Yamazakura GO Service Information (Sakuragawa City)
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/kurashi/koutsu/page005762.html
- A Journey Around the Former Tsukuba Railway, Cycling Ibaraki (Ibaraki Prefecture)
- https://cycling.pref.ibaraki.jp/ringring/tsukuba-railway/
Last verified: 2026.09.08