Tsuchiya Family Residence Storehouse: A Late-Edo Doso in the Heart of Makabe

Tucked along a quiet street in the Makabe district of Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, the Tsuchiya Family Residence Storehouse (Tsuchiya-ke Jutaku Dozo) is a modest but exquisitely crafted two-storey earthen storehouse from the late Edo period. Registered by the national government as a Tangible Cultural Property in 2003, it stands as a quiet witness to a remarkable chapter in Makabe's history — a community that rebuilt itself, brick by brick and shutter by shutter, after a devastating natural disaster.

Makabe itself has been designated an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, and the Tsuchiya storehouse is one of more than a hundred registered cultural properties that together tell the story of an old castle town turned prosperous merchant district. For travellers seeking the unhurried Japan of timber, plaster, and pantile roofs, this corner of northern Ibaraki offers something genuinely rare.

About the Property

The Tsuchiya Family Residence Storehouse is a single structure built in the doso style — a fire-resistant earthen warehouse with thick, plastered walls. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the building is a two-storey wooden structure with a tiled gable roof (kirizuma-zukuri), measuring approximately 29 square metres in footprint. Its entrance is set into the eastern long side, while the southern gable face that fronts the street is pierced by two tall, narrow second-floor windows fitted with massive plaster-clad swing doors known as kannon-bira.

The building dates broadly to the latter half of the Edo period, between 1830 and 1867. Local tradition holds that it was built as part of an okatasuke-bushin — literally a "relief construction project" — undertaken to provide work and wages to townspeople in the wake of a powerful typhoon that struck the region in the fourth year of the Tenpo era (1833). In an age before formal disaster relief, having wealthier households commission building projects was a recognised way of channelling food and income to neighbours who had lost their livelihoods.

Why It Was Designated a Cultural Property

The Tsuchiya storehouse was added to the National Register of Tangible Cultural Properties on 1 July 2003 under the architecture (buildings) category. The official designation rationale highlights the unusually high quality of its construction for a small private storehouse.

Several features stand out. The foundation is built of dressed stone masonry; the lower walls are finished in namako-kabe, a distinctive lattice of square tiles set diagonally and joined by raised plaster ridges that resemble the back of a sea cucumber (namako). The heavy double-leaf doors — the kannon-bira — are themselves an object lesson in late-Edo craftsmanship, designed to seal tightly enough to protect contents from fire, theft, and damp. Around the eaves, even the rafter ends are coated in plaster and modelled to mimic the shape of timber rafters, a finishing touch known as nuri-gome that reflects the same fire-defensive logic applied with real elegance.

Taken together, these details elevate the Tsuchiya storehouse from a utilitarian outbuilding to a small masterpiece of vernacular architecture. It also represents a tangible record of the community-spirited rebuilding effort that followed the Tenpo typhoon — a piece of social as well as architectural history.

Highlights and Things to Look For

Although the storehouse is generally appreciated from the street rather than entered, there is plenty to reward a careful look. The following details are well worth pausing for as you walk by:

  • The namako-kabe lower walls, whose diamond-grid pattern is one of the most photogenic motifs of Japanese storehouse architecture.
  • The kannon-bira shutters on the upper-floor windows — heavy, plaster-clad doors that swing outward and were carefully fitted to seal against fire.
  • The plastered rafter-end mouldings (nuri-gome) along the eaves, a hallmark of high-grade doso construction.
  • The contrast between the rough stone base and the smooth white-plastered upper walls, a textural play that defines the visual character of the Makabe streetscape.
  • The setting: the storehouse sits within a townscape of more than three hundred shop-fronts, gates, and warehouses, many of which carry their own cultural-property markers in local granite.

Visitor Information

The Tsuchiya Family Residence Storehouse is a private property, and viewing is generally limited to its exterior from the public street. There is no admission fee. The surrounding Makabe historic district is freely walkable year-round, and a stroll of an hour or two will take you past dozens of registered cultural properties.

The best season to visit is arguably early spring. Each year from 4 February to 3 March, the town hosts the Makabe Hina Matsuri (Makabe Doll Festival), during which roughly 160 households and shops open their interiors to display heirloom Hina dolls from the Edo, Meiji, Taisho, and Showa eras. It is one of the few times of year when many of the historic buildings welcome the public inside. The Makabe Denshokan, built on the site of the former Makabe jin'ya (administrative office), offers an excellent orientation to the district's history and is a recommended first stop.

The Takagamicho parking area, free of charge, serves as the main visitor car park. Access by public transport is limited; most travellers arrive by taxi (about 15 minutes) from Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line, or by car from the Joban Expressway.

Nearby Attractions

Makabe rewards an unhurried day. Within walking distance of the Tsuchiya storehouse you will find the Ise-ya Inn, a Meiji-era former restaurant still operating as a ryokan; the former Makabe Post Office, a modest but charming example of early-Showa civic architecture; and many of the town's surviving sake breweries and stone-craft workshops — Makabe granite has been quarried in the area for centuries.

About a kilometre east of the town centre lies the Makabe Castle Site, a Nationally Designated Historic Site that marks the seat of the medieval Makabe clan. Further afield, the slopes of Mount Tsukuba — one of Japan's most celebrated twin-peaked mountains — rise to the south, with the Tsukuba Plum Festival drawing visitors during the same early-spring window as the Hina Matsuri.

📍 Plan Your Visit to Ibaraki
Find tours, activities & transport passes near Tsuchitani Family Storehouse
[ Hitachi Seaside Park Nemophila Flower Tours ]

Q&A

QCan I go inside the Tsuchiya Family Residence Storehouse?
AThe building is a private property, and as a general rule it can only be viewed from the street. During the Makabe Hina Matsuri (4 February – 3 March each year), some neighbouring historic houses open their interiors to visitors, so it is worth checking with the Sakuragawa Tourism Association before your trip.
QWhat is "namako-kabe", and why is it used here?
ANamako-kabe is a traditional wall finish in which square tiles are mounted in a diagonal grid and joined by rounded ridges of white plaster. The name means "sea-cucumber wall" because the ridges resemble the creature's back. It protects the lower walls from rain splash and fire, and is one of the most distinctive visual signatures of Edo-period storehouse architecture.
QWhat is the meaning of "okatasuke-bushin", the relief construction tradition associated with the building?
AOkatasuke-bushin refers to construction projects commissioned by wealthier households after a famine or natural disaster, expressly to provide paid work to neighbours who had lost their livelihoods. The Tsuchiya storehouse is said to have been built as part of such an effort following the great Tenpo-era typhoon of 1833.
QHow do I get to Makabe from Tokyo?
AThe most common route is by train to Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line, then taxi (about 15 minutes) into the historic district. By car, Makabe is roughly a 90-minute drive from central Tokyo via the Joban Expressway and Kitakanto Expressway.
QIs there an admission fee for the Makabe historic district?
ANo. The streets and exteriors of the registered cultural properties are free to visit at any time. During the Hina Matsuri, some private interiors that open to visitors may welcome a small donation or expect you to make a modest purchase at the host's shop.

Basic Information

Name Tsuchiya Family Residence Storehouse (Tsuchiya-ke Jutaku Dozo)
Designation Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Buildings)
Date of Registration 1 July 2003
Period Late Edo period (1830–1867)
Structure Doso (earthen storehouse) construction; two storeys; tiled gable roof; building footprint approx. 29 sq. m
Quantity 1 building
Location 272-1 Makabe, Makabe-machi, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture
Surrounding District Sakuragawa City Makabe Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings
Nearest Station Iwase Station (JR Mito Line), approx. 15 minutes by taxi

References

Tsuchiya Family Residence Storehouse — Cultural Heritage Online (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/194369
National Designated Cultural Properties Database (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00003369
Sakuragawa City Makabe Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings — Ibaraki Prefecture Board of Education
https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-8557/
Makabe and Its Registered Cultural Properties — Sakuragawa City Tourism Association
http://www.kankou-sakuragawa.jp/page/page000255.html
Sakuragawa City Makabe — National Council for the Protection of Traditional Buildings
https://www.denken.gr.jp/archive/sakuragawa-makabe/index.html

Last verified: 2026.05.13