The narrow storehouse turned gable-on to the street
The Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Document Storehouse (鈴木新平商店文庫蔵, Suzuki Shinpei Shōten Bunkogura) is a plastered storehouse of 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 stands immediately north of the shop storehouse, with the gable end of its roof facing the street. Construction is Dozo-zukuri over 2 floors; the roof is Kirizuma-zukuri laid with Sangawara-buki pantiles. The frame runs 2 ken 1 shaku by 1 ken 4 shaku for a building area of 29 square meters. The shop storehouse beside it covers 63.
The doorway opens on the south side, toward the shop. The building shows its face to the street, but people went in and out from inside the business.
The building that carried the date
Registration number 08-0261. The criterion recorded for the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Document Storehouse is that the building contributes to the historical landscape of the country, and the shop storehouse and the reception wing entered the register on the same day under the same wording.
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 trade in kimono fabric. A Munafuda ridge tag kept in this storehouse dates all 3 buildings on the plot to 1883. That is why the Agency for Cultural Affairs allows the shop storehouse and the reception wing a margin, giving them as around 1883, while the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Document Storehouse is entered as 1883 flat.
The smallest building on the plot is the one holding the evidence.
Yuki City's register runs to 29 entries, the second largest in Ibaraki Prefecture after Sakuragawa City, and the 3 Suzuki Shinpei buildings added in 2014 are the most recent on it. The registration category itself was created by the 1996 (Heisei 8) revision of the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties. It is a lighter instrument than designation, resting on notification rather than permission.
Black plaster, a washed stone base, a drip course
The Agency's record gives the exterior as black Shikkui with the lower wall finished in jinzoseki-araidashi and a mizukiri drip course running around the building. Jinzoseki-araidashi is artificial stone: cement mixed with aggregate, applied, then washed down before it fully sets so the stone grain stands out. It was a common choice for the base of merchant and civic buildings from the late Meiji era into the early Showa. The drip course is a small projecting step that throws rainwater clear of the wall below.
Yuki City's account, drawn from its own survey of the town, describes the present finish of both this storehouse and the shop storehouse as grey, black plaster having been the original treatment. A visitor expecting a black building may find a quiet grey one.
The south doorway carries a kakekonuri door. The leaf and the frame are cut with interlocking steps and the joint is packed with plaster, closing the path a fire would take. Fireproofing in a storehouse is settled less by the thickness of the walls than by how the openings shut.
A narrow storehouse set beside a shop with its gable to the street is called a sodegura, a sleeve storehouse. The pairing repeats along the old streets of Yuki: a wide shop storehouse entered on its long side, a narrow one turned end-on next to it. Neither roofline explains the frontage on its own.
Visiting the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Document Storehouse
The Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Document Storehouse sits on private ground and is not open. There is no admission charge and no opening time, because there is no interior visit. What can be seen is the exterior from the street, and since the gable end faces the road, a position on the opposite pavement takes in the outline of the roof and the finish of the lower wall together.
Photography from the public road is unrestricted, with the courtesies due to a plot where a family has lived and traded.
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 is 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 Document Storehouse?
- No. It stands on private ground and is closed to visitors. Viewing is from the street only, and there is no admission fee or opening time.
- When was the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Document Storehouse built?
- In 1883. The evidence is a ridge tag kept in this storehouse, which also gives the approximate date for the shop storehouse and the reception wing on the same plot.
- How does the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Document Storehouse differ from the shop storehouse next to it?
- The shop storehouse held the business and is entered on its long side facing the street. This one stored documents and household goods, and turns its gable end to the road. Their building areas are 29 and 63 square meters, so the difference in bulk is more than double.
- Is the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Document Storehouse black or grey?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs records black plaster. Yuki City, drawing on its survey of the town, describes the present finish as grey with black plaster as the original. Expect grey on site.
- How do you reach the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Document 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 Document 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 | 2 ken 1 shaku by 1 ken 4 shaku, 2-story storehouse, building area 29 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 Bunkogura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010255
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Misegura
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010254
- 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