The Family's Main House
A short walk from the Nishioka brewery, a second group of buildings along Makabe's streets also carries the Nishioka name. The compound at Kamijuku-machi was raised as a sake brewery and later took on the brewing of miso and soy sauce as well as the retail sale of the Hananoi sake. Its main house is the family's residence at the rear of the lot.
The main house adjoins the north side of the shop and runs along an east-west ridge. It is a two-story timber building roofed in clay pantile, with a floor area of about 108 square meters, raised in the hipped yosemune form. The plan is nine and a half bays wide and two and a half bays deep.
On the ground floor, an eight-mat room opens off the choba, the shop's counting room, with two six-mat rooms to the east and, to the west, an eight-mat room with a tokonoma alcove together with a six-mat room. The upper floor holds two ten-mat rooms. Outside, the walls are finished in sasarako clapboard, with the tops of the openings rendered in white plaster, in the manner of a traditional Japanese house. Local records date the building to the middle of the Meiji period.
Registration and the Nishioka Compound
The main house joined the national register of Tangible Cultural Properties on June 9, 2004, gazetted on June 24. Registration is the lighter of Japan's two main heritage categories. Unlike the stricter designation given to National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties, it was created to protect the broad stock of buildings, many from the Meiji period on, that give a historic town its everyday fabric.
The compound began as a brewing site. From the late Meiji period it was used for making miso and soy sauce and for selling the Hananoi sake of the nearby Nishioka brewery. The main house, set back from the street behind gate pillars, is the residential heart of that working group of buildings, which also includes a shop and a storehouse listed at the same time.
What to Notice
This is a private residence, so it is normally seen from the outside. The street view shows the long, low hipped roof and the clapboard walls with their plastered upper openings, a restrained finish typical of the region's merchant houses. The granite marker in front, cut from Makabe stone, identifies the house as a registered property.
Seen alongside the shop it adjoins and the storehouse to the west, the main house reads as one part of a single household and business. Walking the street between the two Nishioka compounds gives a sense of how brewing families lived and worked in Makabe.
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Visitor Questions
- Is this the same as the Nishioka brewery that makes Hananoi sake?
- They are connected. This compound, the Nishioka Family Residence, handled the retail sale of the Hananoi sake brewed nearby, along with miso and soy sauce production. The brewery itself stands a short distance away.
- Can I go inside the main house?
- It is a private residence and is normally viewed from the street only. Many of Makabe's registered properties can be seen from the outside but are not open inside.
- What was the compound originally built for?
- It was first raised as a sake brewery. From the late Meiji period the buildings were used for brewing miso and soy sauce and for selling the Nishioka brewery's sake.
- When was the main house built?
- Local heritage records place it in the middle of the Meiji period. It was added to the national register in 2004.
- How do I reach Makabe?
- The town has no railway today. Most visitors come by car, about 20 to 25 minutes from the Sakuragawa-Chikusei interchange, or by local bus from JR Iwase Station on the Mito Line.
Basic Information
| Name | Nishioka Family Residence Main House (西岡家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | Kamijuku-machi 56-1, Makabe, Makabe-machi, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Category | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Registered | June 9, 2004 (gazetted June 24, 2004) |
| Count | 1 building |
| Structure | Two-story timber, hipped roof, pantile |
| Floor area | Approx. 108 m2 |
| Period | Meiji period (1868-1911); mid-Meiji per local records |
| Access and viewing | Private residence; exterior viewing from the street |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Database of Cultural Properties: Nishioka Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00004115
- Cultural Heritage Online (NII): Nishioka Family Residence Main House
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/142108
- Sakuragawa City Tourism Association: Makabe and its registered cultural properties
- https://www.kankou-sakuragawa.jp/page/page000255.html
- Sakuragawa City, official site: Makabe Hina Matsuri
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/data/hina_fes/hina_low.html
Last verified: 2026.06.25