A shopfront still turned to the old street
The Sakurai Family Residence Store (桜井家住宅店舗, Sakurai-ke Jūtaku Tenpo) is a merchant townhouse in Makabe, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, built in the early Meiji era, between 1868 and 1911, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 17 February 2004.
It occupies what was once the middle of Machiya village and turns its long side to a street running east and west. The frame measures 5 ken across the front and 2 and a half ken deep. Above it sits a Kirizuma-zukuri roof laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles, and the entrance falls on the eaves side, the arrangement known as Hirairi. Building area comes to 55 square meters.
The ground plan divides in two. A beaten-earth Doma runs down the east side, and the west side carried the chōba, the raised counter where the shopkeeper sat with the ledgers within reach of the door.
The 2nd floor arrived later. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database dates the addition to around 1921, and the join is not hidden. Look at where the wall finish changes.
Why the Sakurai Family Residence Store is on the register
Registration number 08-0115. The criterion recorded for the Sakurai Family Residence Store is that the building contributes to the historic landscape of the country. That differs from the three Sakurai buildings standing behind it, since the main house and the two storehouses were all listed under a second criterion, that they would be difficult to reproduce.
The distinction reads the site accurately. Of the four, only the store is visible to anyone walking past, and it adds one frontage to the run of tiled roofs and plastered gables formed by roughly 100 Registered Tangible Cultural Property buildings in Makabe. In 2010 about 17.6 hectares of the town were selected as an Important Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings.
One detail carries a good deal of local history. Only the west gable wall of the Sakurai Family Residence Store is built as a storehouse wall, plastered thick against fire, and that is the side abutting the neighboring plot. After the great fire of 1837 the merchants of Makabe rebuilt in heavy-walled construction over the following decades. A household that could not wrap the whole house in plaster hardened the face that pointed at the danger.
What rewards a look from the pavement
Begin at the foot of the front wall. The lower band of the 1st floor is faced in stone, a hard skirt against splashing rain and passing wheels. Above it the 2nd floor is clad in sasarako-shitami, a form of Shitami-itabari in which horizontal boards are pinned by vertical battens notched to ride over each board edge.
Now step back far enough to see both ends at once. The west gable is a blank white plane of plaster. The east side is timber. One building wearing two wall systems is the ordinary outcome of building tight against a neighbor in a town that had burned.
The proportions repay attention too. The upper story of the Sakurai Family Residence Store went up in the years when a railway reached Makabe and shopkeepers along these streets were adding floors to older premises. The front is still wider than it is tall, and that ratio belongs to the single-story shop that stood here first.
Visiting the Sakurai Family Residence Store
The Sakurai Family Residence Store is a private house. The interior is not open, and Sakuragawa City asks visitors to enjoy the registered buildings from outside, on foot, and to refrain from entering the grounds. Viewing happens from the street.
Photography from the public road is not restricted. The building is somebody's home and the neighbors are going about their day, so the courtesy you would extend on any residential street applies here.
Reaching Makabe means taking a bus. From Tsukuba Station on the Tsukuba Express, ride the Tsukubus northern shuttle to Tsukubasan-guchi, about 50 minutes, then change to the Sakuragawa city bus Yamazakura GO for about 20 minutes. From Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line, Yamazakura GO covers the distance in roughly 20 to 35 minutes. Alight at Shimo-juku or Kami-juku and the historic quarter is a short walk away.
Drivers can use the municipal Makabe Takajōmachi car park at 279-1 Makabe, Makabe-cho, with entry and exit between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m. It is free for most of the year and charges only during the Makabe Hina Matsuri, which usually runs from 4 February to 3 March, and the Makabe Gion Festival from 23 to 26 July. Traffic controls close parts of the district to cars on some of those dates. Which houses put out doll displays changes from year to year, so confirm with city tourism information rather than assuming.
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Q&A
- Can you go inside the Sakurai Family Residence Store?
- No. It remains a private residence and the interior is closed. Sakuragawa City asks visitors to look at the registered buildings from the street and not to enter the site.
- When was the Sakurai Family Residence Store built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs assigns the building to the early Meiji era, between 1868 and 1911, with the 2nd floor added around 1921.
- How do you get to the Sakurai Family Residence Store?
- By bus. From Tsukuba Station take the Tsukubus northern shuttle to Tsukubasan-guchi, about 50 minutes, then Yamazakura GO for about 20 minutes. From Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line, Yamazakura GO takes roughly 20 to 35 minutes. Get off at Shimo-juku or Kami-juku.
- Is photography of the Sakurai Family Residence Store allowed?
- Photographs taken from the public street are not restricted. Do not step onto the property, and keep in mind that the surrounding houses are lived in.
- Are there other registered buildings on the same site as the Sakurai Family Residence Store?
- Yes. Three more buildings at the same address hold separate registrations: the main house behind the shop, the west storehouse north of it, and the new storehouse east of that.
Basic Information
| Name | Sakurai Family Residence Store |
|---|---|
| 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 | 5 ken across the front, 2 and a half ken deep, building area 55 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 Store
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00003779
- Cultural Heritage Online: Sakurai Family Residence Store
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/194779
- 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