The Taishō dwelling behind the shop
The Sakurai Family Residence Main House (桜井家住宅主屋, Sakurai-ke Jūtaku Shuoku) is a residence in Makabe, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, built around 1921 in the Taishō era and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 17 February 2004.
It stands north of the family shop, set back from the street where the household actually lived. The building is single-story in timber, roofed in Yosemune-zukuri with Sangawara-buki pantiles, and its building area of 135 square meters makes it by far the largest of the four registered Sakurai buildings.
The plan recorded by the Agency for Cultural Affairs reads like a diagram of daily life. A kitchen occupies the east end. To the west lie a Buddhist altar room of 10 Tatami mats and a Western-style room of 6. North of the kitchen are the bath and the furnace area that heated its water. North of the altar room a Zashiki of 12 mats projects out from the main block.
The last element in the sequence is the oddest and the most memorable. At the northwest corner of that reception room, a lavatory projects again, fitted with a decorative grille.
Why the Sakurai Family Residence Main House is on the register
Registration number 08-0116. The criterion cited is that the building would be difficult to reproduce, the same ground on which the two storehouses on the site were listed, and a different one from the shop out front, which was registered for its contribution to the historic landscape.
Difficult to reproduce is a plain description here rather than a compliment. A Taishō house that combines a 10-mat altar room with a Western-style room, sends a 12-mat reception room out to the north and hangs a grilled lavatory off its corner is the product of one family's requirements at one moment. Nothing about it repeats a pattern book.
Makabe holds roughly 100 Registered Tangible Cultural Property buildings, and in 2010 about 17.6 hectares of the town were selected as an Important Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. The Sakurai Family Residence Main House belongs to the layer of that district that visitors rarely see, the domestic buildings standing behind the commercial frontages.
What can be read from outside
The interior is closed, so the rooms described above stay on paper. What the street gives you is the roof and the west wall, and both are worth the time.
The hipped roof is the giveaway. Shop buildings along these streets carry gabled roofs with the ridge parallel to the road; the Sakurai Family Residence Main House slopes on all four sides, a form that belongs to a house rather than a place of business. Seen over the shop's ridge from the pavement, the two roof shapes tell you which building did which job.
The west elevation repeats a decision already made at the shopfront. Where the Sakurai Family Residence Main House runs along the neighboring plot, the wall is built for fire, the same defensive treatment the store uses on its own west gable. Two buildings, one boundary, one worry.
The Western-style room is the detail that dates the house most precisely. In the Taishō years a railway reached Makabe, merchants added upper floors to older shops, and Western rooms began appearing in houses that were otherwise entirely traditional. A 6-mat Western room next to a 10-mat altar room is that decade in miniature.
Visiting the Sakurai Family Residence Main House
The Sakurai Family Residence Main House is a private home and is not open to visitors. Sakuragawa City asks that the registered buildings be enjoyed from outside, on foot, without entering the grounds, so plan on a view from the street rather than a tour.
Photographs from the public road are unrestricted. Since the site is occupied, the usual courtesies of a residential street apply.
Buses do the work of getting here. From Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, the Tsukubus northern shuttle runs to Tsukubasan-guchi in about 50 minutes, where the Sakuragawa city bus Yamazakura GO continues for about 20 minutes. From Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line, Yamazakura GO takes roughly 20 to 35 minutes. Shimo-juku and Kami-juku are the stops for the old town.
By car, the municipal Makabe Takajōmachi car park at 279-1 Makabe, Makabe-cho, admits vehicles between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. Parking is free through most of the year, with charges applied during the Makabe Hina Matsuri, normally 4 February to 3 March, and the Makabe Gion Festival from 23 to 26 July, when traffic controls also affect the surrounding streets.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Ibaraki
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Sakurai Family Residence Main House
- [ Hitachi Seaside Park Nemophila Flower Tours ]
Q&A
- Can the Sakurai Family Residence Main House be visited inside?
- No. The building is a private residence and the interior is closed. Sakuragawa City asks visitors to view the registered buildings from the street and not to enter the property.
- When was the Sakurai Family Residence Main House built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to around 1921, in the Taishō era, which makes it the newest of the four registered buildings on the site.
- What rooms does the Sakurai Family Residence Main House contain?
- The registration record lists a kitchen at the east end, a Buddhist altar room of 10 mats and a Western-style room of 6 to the west, a bath and furnace area north of the kitchen, and a projecting reception room of 12 mats with a lavatory at its northwest corner.
- How large is the Sakurai Family Residence Main House?
- Its building area is 135 square meters, roughly three times that of either storehouse on the same site.
- How do you reach the Sakurai Family Residence Main House?
- By bus. From Tsukuba Station, the Tsukubus northern shuttle reaches Tsukubasan-guchi in about 50 minutes, then Yamazakura GO runs about 20 minutes. From Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line, Yamazakura GO takes roughly 20 to 35 minutes. Alight at Shimo-juku or Kami-juku.
Basic Information
| Name | Sakurai Family Residence Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 409 Makabe, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2004 (Heisei 16) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-story timber building, building area 135 square meters |
| Owner | Private individual (no owner name recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public. Exterior viewing from the street only |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Sakurai Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00003780
- Cultural Heritage Online: Sakurai Family Residence Main House
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/188510
- 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: Walking Makabe, map of registered cultural properties (PDF)
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/data/doc/1487569963_doc_23_1.pdf
- Sakuragawa City: Frequently asked questions on tourism, parking in Makabe
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/faq.php?mode=detail&lc=3&c=26&code=112
- Sakuragawa City: Yamazakura GO city bus timetable (PDF)
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/data/doc/1743411093_doc_23_0.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.07