Where the shop ends and the household begins
The Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing (鈴木新平商店座敷棟, Suzuki Shinpei Shōten Zashiki-tō) is a single-story timber building 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).
A corridor links it to the shop storehouse that fronts the street, and its ridge runs east to west. The roof is Kirizuma-zukuri and the building area is 45 square meters. Of the 3 registered buildings on this plot, it is the only one not built as a storehouse.
On a merchant property the buildings closest to the road belong to the business and the ones behind them to the family. Thick earthen walls stop, ordinary posts and plaster take over, and the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing stands on the household side of that line.
Why the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing is on the register
Registration number 08-0262, entered under the criterion that the building contributes to the historical landscape of the country. The Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing joined the register in 2014 together with the shop storehouse and the document storehouse.
Yuki City records that the business was once called Kagaya, and that the family is said to have moved from Kanazawa in Kaga Province in the late Edo period to trade in kimono fabric. A ridge tag kept in the document storehouse dates all 3 buildings to 1883. This wing carries no dated timber of its own, which is why the Agency for Cultural Affairs gives it as around 1883 rather than 1883 flat.
Yuki City's register holds 29 entries. Shop storehouses, main houses and brewery buildings account for most of them, and the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing is the only zashiki wing on the list. Having the trading front and the domestic back of one merchant property survive together is what carried all 3 buildings onto the register at once.
Two rooms, a veranda, and a roof the sources argue about
The Agency's record describes the interior as a 6-mat room fitted with a Tokonoma alcove and a hira-shoin, and an 8-mat room for the family Buddhist altar. A hira-shoin is the flat form of the study window found in Shoin-zukuri rooms, set level with the wall instead of projecting out toward the veranda. In a merchant house the Zashiki received visitors and stated the standing of the family in a way anyone entering could read.
The altar room is the larger of the two. Giving 8 mats to the altar and 6 to the reception room suggests a household that expected people to gather for memorial services.
Outside, the upper walls are plastered in Shikkui laid over the posts so that no timber shows, the technique called okabe. The north face carries boarding to waist height, sasarako-shitami, a form of Shitami-itabari in which notched battens hold the boards down. On the southeast a Geya canopy reaches out over an open Engawa veranda.
The roof is where the sources part. The registration entry gives the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing as slate-roofed. Yuki City calls it pantiled and places the veranda on the east and north faces instead of the southeast. Slate is what the register sets down as the structure and form. Whether the covering was changed at some point is a question for anyone who gets a look at it.
Visiting the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing
The Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing stands on private ground and is not open. There is no admission charge and no opening time, because there is no interior visit. It also sits furthest from the road of the 3 registered buildings, so expect the roof and the upper wall at best: look at the two storehouse frontages first, then find the low roof continuing behind them.
Photography from the public road is unrestricted. Do not enter the plot, and keep in mind that people live there.
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 and take bookings for walks from a single visitor upward.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Ibaraki
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing
- [ Hitachi Seaside Park Nemophila Flower Tours ]
Q&A
- Can you go inside the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing?
- No. It stands on private ground and is closed to visitors. It is also the building set furthest back on the plot, so from the street the roof and upper wall are all that show.
- What rooms does the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing contain?
- Two, according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs: a 6-mat reception room with a tokonoma alcove and a hira-shoin study window, and an 8-mat room holding the family Buddhist altar. A veranda under a canopy runs along the southeast side.
- When was the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing built?
- Around 1883. A ridge tag kept in the document storehouse on the same plot dates the 3 buildings to that year.
- What is the roof of the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing made of?
- The registration entry records slate. Yuki City's own description calls it pantiled, so the sources disagree on this point.
- How do you reach the Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Reception Room Wing?
- 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 Reception Room Wing |
|---|---|
| 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 | Single-story timber building, building area 45 square meters |
| Owner | Private individual (no owner name recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public. Partial exterior view from the street only |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Suzuki Shinpei Shoten Zashiki-to
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00010256
- 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