Granite below, plaster above
The Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse (大森家住宅石蔵, Ōmori-ke Jūtaku Ishigura) is a storehouse of 1917 in the Sakurai district of Makabe, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, added to the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2004. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it precisely, to Taisho 6, which sets it a few years later than the house and gate standing immediately to its north.
The building is 2 storeys and hybrid in construction. Its ground floor is stone; the floor above is timber, finished in the thick plaster technique of a Dozo-zukuri storehouse. Outside, that split is left visible rather than disguised. Granite blocks are exposed across the lower wall, and above them the upper storey is rendered as a smooth plastered plane with no post or beam showing, the treatment carpenters call okabe. Just under the eaves a raised band of plaster runs around the building, a hachimaki, literally a headband.
The roof is a simple gable in Sangawara-buki pantiles, and the building is Tsumairi, entered on the gable end rather than the long side. It measures 4 bays along the ridge and 3 across, with a recorded building area of 76 square meters.
Why the storehouse was registered
The Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse carries registration number 08-0122 and was accepted under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the country. The Agency's assessment calls it a well-built storehouse with a distinctive structure and appearance, and an indispensable part of the estate's street frontage.
Stone is the reason both halves of that sentence hold. Makabe lies in a granite district: the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's account of Makabe stone lanterns, a nationally recognised traditional craft, records that good granite has long been quarried around Makabe and worked there since the late medieval period. The register does not name the quarry that supplied these blocks. What it does show is a household choosing stone for the lower storey at a moment when most storehouses in the region were still going up entirely in earth and plaster.
Stone storehouses went on to become emblematic of the town. When residents began organising to save the Makabe streetscape in the decade after 1990, one of the things they did was hold guitar concerts inside a stone storehouse, using the buildings themselves to argue for their own survival. Sakuragawa City started applying the register in earnest in 1999, and the Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in the wave that followed.
Reading the gable end
Because the Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse is entered on its gable end, what faces you from the road is a triangle sitting on a rectangle. That is the view to work through slowly.
Start at the bottom. The granite is laid in courses of squared blocks, and the joints are wide enough to read from across the street. Look at how the blocks differ from one another. No two faces weather at the same rate, so the wall reads as a patchwork of greys rather than a single tone, a quality that photographs poorly and rewards standing still.
Now go up. The change from stone to plaster happens at the floor line without a moulding or a projecting course to soften it. Stone stops, white begins. Above that the hachimaki band throws a thin shadow just below the tiles, and the gable comes to a point over the entrance.
Finally, turn and look north along the road. The stone storehouse anchors the southern end of a run of 3 registered buildings, with the gate next and the main house beyond it. The storehouse is the heaviest of the 3 and the only one built to keep things rather than to be lived in or passed through.
Where to stand, and how to get there
The Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse stands along the through road and is looked at from that road. It is not open: the storehouse belongs to a private household, the interior is closed, and Sakuragawa City's guidance for the registered buildings of Makabe asks visitors to keep to the street and not enter the grounds. There is no charge, no ticket desk and no opening time to check. Photography from the public road is unproblematic; going in to photograph is not.
For the best view, cross to the far side of the road and move a little north, so the gable end and the flank fall into the same frame. From square on, the building flattens into a wall and the depth of the granite courses disappears.
Public transport means the JR Mito Line to Iwase Station, then the Sakuragawa city bus Yamazakura GO heading for Makabe and Tsukubasanguchi, about 20 minutes to the Sakurai stop. On foot from the old part of Makabe, count on 15 minutes to cover the 1 kilometer north. The city's walking leaflet builds this into a Sakurai course that adds about 20 minutes to the central circuit. If you drive, leave the car in central Makabe: the road here is narrow and has no space to stop.
Sakurai lies outside the 17.6 hectare Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings covering the middle of Makabe, so there is no explanatory board at the storehouse and few other visitors on the road.
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Q&A
- What is the Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse built of?
- The ground floor is granite laid in squared blocks and the upper floor is timber finished in thick plaster in the manner of a dozo storehouse. The roof is a gable clad in sangawara pantiles, and the building is entered on the gable end.
- Can you go inside the Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse?
- No. It is privately owned and the interior is not shown. Sakuragawa City asks visitors to view the registered buildings of Makabe from the street and not to enter the grounds. Viewing the exterior is free and possible at any hour.
- When was the Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse built?
- In 1917, Taisho 6, according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs. That makes it slightly later than the neighbouring main house and gate, which are dated more loosely to the early Taisho era. It joined the national register in 2004 (Heisei 16) as number 08-0122.
- How large is the Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse?
- The register gives 4 bays along the ridge by 3 across, over 2 storeys, with a building area of 76 square meters. Among the 3 registered Omori buildings it is second in size to the main house.
- How do you reach the Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse?
- Take the JR Mito Line to Iwase Station and the Sakuragawa city bus Yamazakura GO toward Makabe, about 20 minutes, alighting at Sakurai. Walking north from central Makabe covers 1 kilometer in roughly 15 minutes.
Basic Information
| Name | Omori Family Residence Stone Storehouse (大森家住宅石蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 169-1 Higashi Sakurai, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure), registration number 08-0122 |
| Year Designated | Registered on 2004.3.2 (Heisei 16) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 76 square meters; 2 storeys, stone with partial dozo-zukuri, tile roof; 4 bays by 3 |
| 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 Stone Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003949
- 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
- Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Bureau of Industrial and Labour Affairs: Makabe Stone Lanterns
- https://www.dento-tokyo.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/items/56.html
- Sakuragawa City: operation of the city bus Yamazakura GO
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/kurashi/koutsu/page005762.html
Last verified: 2026.09.05