Ushioda Family Residence Misegura: A Black-Plastered Shopfront in Old Makabe
Walk the old streets of Makabe, tucked below the northern slopes of Mt. Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, and one building at the corner of Gojinya-mae-dori pulls the eye before any signboard does. Its walls are finished in kurojikkui, a lustrous black lime plaster, and its roof ridge is built up unusually high. This is the misegura, the shop storehouse of the Ushioda family, who traded here under the house name Tsuruya.
The Ushioda were kimono and dry-goods merchants prosperous enough that locals later spoke of Tsuruya as the Mitsukoshi of the Kanto region. The misegura was raised in 1910, in the forty-third year of the Meiji era. Behind its wide street frontage the ground floor opens into a generous chōba, the raised accounting area where clerks once knelt to weigh coin and unroll bolts of cloth, with tatami reception rooms set deeper inside.
Makabe itself began as the castle town of the Makabe clan. After the domain passed to Kasama in the Edo period the castle was abandoned and a jinya, a local administrative office, was placed at the heart of the town. The street that runs past the Ushioda house still carries the memory of that office in its name, Gojinya-mae-dori, the road in front of the honorable jinya.
Why the Building Is Registered
In November 1999 the misegura became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property under registration number 08-0017, together with three other structures on the Ushioda grounds. It was the first building in Makabe to receive that status, and its registration opened the way for a wave of listings that now numbers more than a hundred across the town.
The registration system protects buildings judged difficult to reproduce, and the misegura earns the description on several counts. Its scale is considerable for a provincial shop, with a footprint of about 281 square metres over two storeys of earthen-walled dozō construction under a tiled roof. The height of the ridge, the depth of the black plaster, and the corner siting combine into a townscape landmark rather than a single handsome facade. Because it stands within the Makabe preservation district, the building is read today not in isolation but as the anchor of a street of surviving merchant houses.
What to Look For on a Visit
Stand across the road first. From the corner the misegura reveals how a Meiji merchant used architecture as advertisement: the black walls signalled wealth and fire-resistance at once, and the raised ridge made the roofline visible from far down the street. The kimono trade eventually gave way to a tobacco concession, and an old enamel sign for a licensed tobacco seller still survives on the premises, a small record of how the building kept working long after the bolts of silk were gone.
Timing rewards the visitor. From early February into March the town stages the Makabe Hina Matsuri, and the Ushioda house fills with tiers of hina dolls spanning the Edo, Meiji, Taishō and Shōwa periods. Among them is an unusual figure of a court lady leading a small dog, the kind of detail that repays a slow look. A simple eatery inside serves country noodles and other warm dishes, so the shop that once sold cloth now offers a rest to the people who come to admire it.
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Q&A
- What does the word misegura mean?
- A misegura is a storehouse-style building that doubles as a shop. Its thick earthen walls gave protection against fire while the ground floor served customers, a form well suited to a prosperous merchant town.
- When was the misegura built?
- It was completed in 1910, the forty-third year of the Meiji era, making it the youngest of the two street-facing buildings on the Ushioda site.
- Is it true this was Makabe's first registered cultural property?
- Yes. When the Ushioda buildings were listed in 1999 the misegura became the first Registered Tangible Cultural Property in the town, and many more followed.
- Can I see inside?
- The ground floor is open to visitors and is especially lively during the Makabe Hina Matsuri each February and March, when antique dolls are displayed and a small eatery operates inside.
- How do I reach Makabe?
- Makabe lies in Sakuragawa City. Many visitors ride the Sakuragawa city bus from Tsukuba-san-guchi, and the old district is compact enough to explore comfortably on foot.
Basic Information
| Name | Ushioda Family Residence Misegura (Ushioda-ke jūtaku misegura) |
|---|---|
| Location | 189 Makabe, Makabe-machi, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), reg. no. 08-0017 |
| Registered | 18 November 1999 |
| Built | 1910 (Meiji 43) |
| Structure | Two-storey earthen-walled (dozō) construction, tiled roof, floor area approx. 281 m², 1 building |
| Setting | Within the Makabe Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings |
References
- Cultural Heritage Online — Ushioda Family Residence Misegura
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/138671
- Agency for Cultural Affairs National Cultural Properties Database
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001401
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education — Ushioda Family Residence Misegura and three others
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6510/
Last verified: 2026.07.06