An early Showa wing facing the inner court
The Murakami Family Residence Annex is a single-storey timber building of the early Shōwa era in the Takajōmachi block of Makabe, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 12 July 2005. It stands east of the reception wing of the main house, its ridge running east to west, and is joined to the house by a covered passage.
The plan measures 3.5 bays by 2.5. The roof is hipped in the Yosemune-zukuri manner and laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles, with a Geya lean-to added along the south side. At 34 square metres this is the smallest of the four listed buildings on the plot. Inside are a 4.5-mat room and two 6-mat rooms, fitted with alcove furnishings, and a Engawa veranda 0.5 bay deep runs across the south face.
That veranda states what the building is for. It opens south to draw light from the inner court. Where the shop of the main house opens outward to the road, the Murakami Family Residence Annex opens inward. Within one plot, two buildings face opposite directions, and each direction corresponds to a different kind of visitor.
A house assembled over thirty years
The criterion recorded for the Murakami Family Residence Annex is contribution to the historic landscape of the country, under register number 08-0182. The four buildings here were listed together on a single day, but they were not built together.
The main house and the storehouse date from around 1902. The front gate is older still, an early Meiji structure re-erected on this plot at about the same time. The annex came later, after the Shōwa era opened in 1926. More than a quarter of a century separates the earliest work from the latest. A merchant household did not finish its plot in one campaign; wings were added as generations turned over and habits changed. This building is the last of those additions.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as one of the elements enclosing the courtyard behind the main house. The value being recognised lies less in the building alone than in the space it helps to shape. Four buildings and a run of walling close a court that the street never sees, and that hidden outdoor room is as typical of a Makabe merchant plot as the shopfront everyone photographs.
Because registration is a lighter instrument than designation, a mixture of dates within one household counts against nothing. The system was made to record buildings that stayed in use and grew, which is part of why the Makabe townscape was selected as a national preservation district in 2010.
Making sense of a building you cannot see
The Murakami Family Residence Annex is invisible from the road. It sits deep in the plot behind the main house, with no street frontage of its own. Even standing in front of the gate, all that can be confirmed is a hipped ridge line showing above the boundary wall.
Knowing it is there still changes how the town reads. Walking these streets, you begin to sense that behind every shop storehouse and gate lies a quieter zone of rooms and light wells. Makabe merchants pushed trade to the front and kept living quarters and guest rooms at the back. This annex belongs firmly to that hidden half.
What it looks like has to be reconstructed from the record: two matted rooms with alcove furnishings, a veranda half a bay deep, a lean-to along the south. Nothing showy, but enough formality to receive a guest properly. The covered passage matters too. The annex is close enough to reach from the house without stepping outside, yet it keeps its own roof and its own walls and remains a separate building.
Before you make the trip
The Murakami Family Residence Annex is part of a private home and the interior is closed. Standing at the back of the plot, it cannot be viewed from outside either, which makes it the least accessible of the four. The registered cultural property map published by Sakuragawa City states that listed buildings are not open and asks visitors to keep off the grounds.
Photography is confined to what is visible from the public road, and pointing a camera over the boundary wall is not welcome.
Through February and March the town holds its doll festival, when more than 100 houses and shops display hina dolls and open the street-facing parts of their buildings. Which households take part varies from year to year, so there is no guarantee that this plot will be among them. The festival map distributed by the Sakuragawa City Tourism Association is the thing to check before setting out.
One route in runs from Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express: the Tsukuba-san Shuttle from Tsukuba Center takes about 50 minutes to Tsukuba-san Guchi, where the Yamazakura GO city bus covers the remaining 20 minutes. From Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line the city bus alone takes about 20 minutes. The fare is a flat 200 yen and transport IC cards work. Drivers exit the Kita-Kanto Expressway at Sakuragawa-Chikusei, follow National Route 50 and Prefectural Route 41, and park at Takajōmachi car park, 279-1 Makabe, which charges during the festival.
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Q&A
- Can the Murakami Family Residence Annex be visited or seen from the street?
- No. The interior is closed and the building sits at the back of the plot, so almost nothing shows from the road apart from a hipped ridge above the wall. Sakuragawa City asks visitors not to enter the grounds of registered buildings.
- What is the Murakami Family Residence Annex like?
- A single-storey timber building of the early Shōwa era, 3.5 bays by 2.5 and 34 square metres, with a hipped tiled roof and a lean-to on the south. It holds a 4.5-mat room and two 6-mat rooms with alcove furnishings, and a veranda 0.5 bay deep along the south face.
- How is the Murakami Family Residence Annex connected to the main house?
- It stands east of the reception wing of the main house and is linked to it by a covered passage. Roof and walls remain separate, so it counts as its own building, and it forms one side of the courtyard behind the house.
- When was the Murakami Family Residence Annex built and listed?
- In the early Shōwa era, after 1926. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 12 July 2005 under number 08-0182, alongside the main house and storehouse of about 1902 and the front gate on the same plot.
- How do I reach the part of Makabe where the Murakami Family Residence Annex stands?
- From Tsukuba Station take the shuttle about 50 minutes to Tsukuba-san Guchi, then the Yamazakura GO city bus for 20 minutes. From Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line the city bus takes about 20 minutes at a flat 200 yen. By car, exit at Sakuragawa-Chikusei and follow National Route 50 and Prefectural Route 41.
Basic Information
| Name | Murakami Family Residence Annex |
|---|---|
| Location | 232 Takajomachi, Makabe, Makabecho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2005 (Heisei 17) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber, sangawara tiled roof, building area 34 square metres |
| Owner | Private. No owner name recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database |
| Public Access | Not open. Set at the rear of the plot and essentially not visible from the street |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Murakami Family Residence Annex
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004697
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Murakami Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004696
- Sakuragawa City: Makabe Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/education/bunkazai/city_bunkazai/kuni_bunkazai/page003423.html
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education: Makabe Preservation District, Sakuragawa City
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-8557/
- Sakuragawa City: Registered Cultural Property Map (reverse)
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/data/doc/1487569963_doc_23_1.pdf
- Sakuragawa City: Yamazakura GO city bus service
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/kurashi/koutsu/page005762.html
Last verified: 2026.09.08