A silk-reeling family's shop and dwelling
The Omori Family Residence Main House (大森家住宅主屋, Ōmori-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is an early Taisho era shop and dwelling in the Sakurai district of Makabe, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as the shop and living quarters of a household engaged in silk reeling, and places its construction between 1912 and 1925.
The building reads as two parts joined front to back. Facing the through road stands a 2-storey block roofed in the Yosemune-zukuri hipped form and entered along its long side, the Hirairi arrangement. Behind it a single-storey wing, hipped in the same way, holds the living rooms. Together they cover a building area of 111 square meters, timber throughout, under tile.
The ground floor is split lengthwise. Its south half, taken together with the lean-to that runs across the front, forms one wide earth-floored Doma. The north half carries a row of matted Zashiki rooms. Upstairs the carpenters used the plan Japanese builders call ta-no-ji, 4 rooms arranged around a central crossing of partitions, the layout that gives a townhouse upper floor its even quartered feel.
Makabe grew up beside a castle and prospered later as a market town trading cotton toward the northeast. Sakuragawa City's account of the district records that silk reeling rose to prominence in the Meiji era, and that 2-storey townhouses with prominent bracketed eaves spread through the town after the Tsukuba Railway opened and Makabe Station began service in the Taisho years. The Omori Family Residence Main House belongs to exactly that turn.
Why the house was registered
The Omori Family Residence Main House holds registration number 08-0120, and the register states its ground plainly: a building that contributes to the historic landscape of the country. Read against the building itself, that phrase points first at the roofline. The front block is two storeys, but its floor heights are held down, so the ridge sits low and the eaves run close to the street rather than towering over it. A taller building on the same plot would break the run of roofs along the Sakurai road.
The second reason is the plan. A shop block at the street with the dwelling extended behind it is the classic Machiya section, and here it survives with the working parts intact: the deep earth floor for goods and traffic, the raised rooms kept to the quiet north side, the upper floor left as living space rather than storage. Buildings of this date are common enough in Ibaraki; ones that still show the whole sequence from street to back room are not.
Registration and designation are separate instruments under Japanese law. This house is a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, which means the owner keeps a free hand in daily use and notifies the state before major alteration. The system suits a house still lived in, which is why so much of Makabe entered it. Sakuragawa City began using the register in earnest in 1999 and pushed more than 100 buildings through it within a few years.
What to look for from the street
Stand back on the far side of the road before looking at the Omori Family Residence Main House. The two roofs are the thing. Both are hipped, so the building presents sloping planes on all four sides instead of the sharp gable triangles you see on the storehouses in central Makabe, and the rear roof sits noticeably lower than the front one. The step between them, visible from an angle, is the joint between shop and home.
Then look at the height. Country townhouses of this period often show off, pushing the second floor up and running heavy bracketed purlins out under the eaves. This one stays modest. The upper windows sit close under the roof and the wall plane is quiet.
The frontage does not end with the house. Immediately south, touching it, stands the Omori Family Residence Nagayamon Gate, and beyond that again the Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse, each registered in its own right on the same day. Read from north to south they make a single street wall: dwelling, gate, storehouse. Seeing the main house alone gives you only the first third of the composition.
Visiting the Omori Family Residence Main House
The Omori Family Residence Main House is a private home and the interior is not open to the public. Sakuragawa City's walking map for the registered buildings of Makabe asks visitors to enjoy the exteriors on foot and to refrain from entering the grounds or the buildings. There is no admission fee and no ticket office, because there is nothing to enter. Everything described above can be seen from the public road.
Photography follows from the same rule. Shots from the road are unobjectionable; going onto the property to take them is not. Bear in mind that people live here.
By train and bus, take the JR Mito Line to Iwase Station and change to the Sakuragawa city bus, Yamazakura GO, running toward Makabe and Tsukubasanguchi. The ride is roughly 20 minutes and there is a stop at Sakurai. From the older part of Makabe, around the former domain office, the house lies about 1 kilometer north, a walk of some 15 minutes. Sakuragawa City's own map treats this stretch as a separate Sakurai course adding about 20 minutes to the central loop. Drivers should use the public parking in central Makabe and walk; the lane in front of the Omori Family Residence Main House is narrow and has no parking.
One thing to know before you plan a trip. The house sits in Sakurai, outside the 17.6 hectare Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings that covers the Makabe town centre, so it is not part of the signposted core route and gets far fewer visitors. Go on a weekday morning and you will very likely have the road to yourself.
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Q&A
- Can you go inside the Omori Family Residence Main House?
- No. It remains a private residence and the interior is closed. Sakuragawa City asks visitors to view the exterior from the road and not to enter the grounds. There is no admission charge and no opening time, since access is limited to the street frontage.
- How do you get to the Omori Family Residence Main House by public transport?
- Take the JR Mito Line to Iwase Station, then the Sakuragawa city bus Yamazakura GO toward Makabe, about 20 minutes, getting off at the Sakurai stop. Walking from central Makabe takes about 15 minutes, roughly 1 kilometer north.
- When was the Omori Family Residence Main House built and registered?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the early Taisho era, between 1912 and 1925. It was added to the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004 (Heisei 16), under registration number 08-0120.
- Is the Omori Family Residence Main House inside the Makabe preservation district?
- No. The 17.6 hectare preservation district covers Makabe proper, while this house stands in the neighbouring Sakurai district to the north. Sakuragawa City's walking map presents it as part of a separate Sakurai course.
- How does the Omori Family Residence Main House differ from the storehouses in central Makabe?
- The storehouses along the central streets are thick-walled misegura built for display and fire resistance. This is an ordinary timber shop and dwelling with hipped roofs and low floor heights, built for a silk-reeling household to live and trade in rather than to impress.
Basic Information
| Name | Omori Family Residence Main House (大森家住宅主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 169-1 Higashi Sakurai, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), registration number 08-0120 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 2004.3.2 (Heisei 16) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 111 square meters; 2-storey timber structure with tile roof |
| Owner | Privately owned; the owner's name is not published in the national database |
| Public Access | Exterior viewing from the public road only. Interior closed; entry to the grounds is not permitted |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Omori Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003947
- 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
- Sakuragawa City: Walking Makabe, map of the registered cultural properties
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/data/doc/1487569963_doc_23_1.pdf
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education: Makabe Preservation District, Sakuragawa City
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-8557/
- Sakuragawa City: operation of the city bus Yamazakura GO
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/kurashi/koutsu/page005762.html
Last verified: 2026.09.05