The tall storehouse facing west onto the street
The Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse (鈴木新平商店見世蔵, Suzuki Shinpei Shōten Misegura) is a 2-story plastered storehouse of about 1883 (Meiji 16) in the Uramachi quarter of Yuki City, Ibaraki Prefecture, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 19 December 2014 (Heisei 26).
It faces west onto the Uramachi street. Construction is Dozo-zukuri over 2 floors, the roof Kirizuma-zukuri laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles, and entry comes on the long eaves side, the manner called Hirairi. The frame runs 3 and a half ken by 2 and a half ken for a building area of 63 square meters, with a Geya canopy half a ken deep running the width of the front.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs opens its description by calling the building tall. Two floors, but generous ones: standing on the street and looking up, the eaves sit higher than a count of floors would suggest.
A shop that kept its original arrangement
Registration number 08-0260, under the criterion that the building contributes to the historical landscape of the country. The Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse entered the register on the same day as the document storehouse and the reception wing behind it.
What the Agency singles out is that the working parts of the shop were never rebuilt. On the ground floor, deep sashimono beams span the long axis. A sashimono is a horizontal member carried between posts, and its depth is what lets a shopfront open wide while still holding the load above. The tatami room on the upper floor keeps its zashiki-kazari, the built-in alcove fittings of a formal room. The building traded on its ground floor and received people on the one above.
Yuki City records that the business was formerly called Kagaya, and that the family is said to have come from Kanazawa in Kaga Province during the late Edo period to deal in kimono fabric. A Munafuda ridge tag kept in the document storehouse dates the 3 buildings on the plot to 1883, the years when Yuki silk was moving through the town in quantity.
Yuki City's register runs to 29 entries, second in Ibaraki Prefecture after Sakuragawa City. The 3 Suzuki Shinpei buildings, registered in 2014, are the most recent additions to it.
A plaster cornice, and lattice under the canopy
The careful work is at the upper eaves. Purlins are carried forward of the posts, the technique called degeta, which pushes the eaves out and deepens the shadow beneath them; along that exposed face runs a nokijabara, a horizontal molding packed and modeled in black Shikkui. A nokijabara does the job of a cornice on a Western building. Making one out of earth and lime is the sort of compromise Meiji merchants liked: an imported outline built with the tools of a storehouse.
The ground floor sets lattice under the canopy. This is the face that opened toward the road, where goods were laid out and customers came in. The canopy cuts the rain and the late western sun; the lattice lets sight through while keeping the interior in reserve.
On color the sources differ. The Agency records the eaves as finished in black plaster. Yuki City describes the present walls as grey, black plaster having been the original treatment. Anyone looking for a black building at the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse may find a quiet grey one instead.
Immediately north, the document storehouse turns its gable end to the road. A shop storehouse of 63 square meters and a narrow one of 29 make the frontage together, and neither accounts for it alone.
Visiting the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse
The Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse stands on private ground and is not open. There is no admission charge and no opening time, because there is no interior visit. It is, however, the building of the 3 that sits closest to the road, so the whole front elevation reads from the pavement.
Photography from the public road is unrestricted, with the courtesies due to a plot where a family has lived and traded. The facade looks west, so light reaches it in the afternoon.
The walk from the north exit of Yuki Station on the JR Mito Line to the Uramachi street takes 10 to 15 minutes. The tourist information desk is inside the Yuki Civic Information Centre at 1-1-1 Kokufucho, a minute from that exit, open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and closed on Mondays, on the following day when a Monday falls on a public holiday, and over the New Year period. The telephone number is 0296-33-5525. Volunteer guides from the Yuki City Tourism Volunteer Guide Association are on duty there and take bookings for walks from a single visitor upward.
Q&A
- Can you go inside the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse?
- No. It stands on private ground and is closed to visitors. There is no admission fee or opening time, and viewing is from the street only.
- What is a misegura, and is the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse one?
- A misegura is a shop built with the structure of a storehouse: thick earthen walls against fire, but with the street face opened up for trade. This building is one, a 2-story plastered storehouse with a canopy and lattice across its front.
- When was the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse built?
- Around 1883. A ridge tag kept in the document storehouse on the same plot dates all 3 buildings to that year.
- What should you look at on the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse?
- The upper eaves. The purlins are carried forward of the posts and a plaster cornice, worked in black lime, runs along the exposed face. Lower down, the lattice under the canopy shows how the shop met the street.
- How do you reach the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse?
- On foot, 10 to 15 minutes from the north exit of Yuki Station on the JR Mito Line. The tourist information desk beside that exit, open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and closed Mondays, can arrange a guided walk.
Basic Information
| Name | Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Shop Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 109-1 Uramachi, Oaza Yuki, Yuki City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered in 2014 (Heisei 26) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 3 and a half ken by 2 and a half ken, 2-story storehouse, building area 63 square meters |
| Owner | Private individual (no owner name recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public. Exterior view from the street only |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Misegura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010254
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Bunkogura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010255
- Yuki City: Suzuki Shinpei Shoten
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kosodate-kyouiku/shougaigakushuu/bunkazai/bunkazai/tourokuyuukei/page006900.html
- Yuki City: list of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kosodate-kyouiku/shougaigakushuu/bunkazai/bunkazai/tourokuyuukei/page003226.html
- Yuki City: about the Registered Tangible Cultural Property system
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kosodate-kyouiku/shougaigakushuu/bunkazai/bunkazai/tourokuyuukei/page000409.html
- Yuki City: tourist information desk
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kankou/spot/page002937.html
- Yuki City: Tourism Volunteer Guide Association
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kankou/kankou-volunteer/
Last verified: 2026.09.07