What the Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse is
The Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse is a two-storey earthen-walled storehouse of the late Edo period, roughly 1830 to 1867, in the Sakurai district of Makabe, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture. It was entered in the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 28 April 2000 under registration number 08-0025.
Of the nine registered buildings at the Yaguchi compound, the Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse is the oldest. At 20 square metres it is also the smallest. The roof is a plain Kirizuma-zukuri gable with the ridge running east to west, covered in Sangawara-buki pantiles, and the walls are built in the Dozo-zukuri technique of thick clay laid over a timber frame.
A sleeve storehouse is one that stands close beside a shop, tucked against it like a sleeve against a body. This one sits on the north side. The shop itself, however, dates from 1900, half a century later than the storehouse, so the sequence ran the other way: the shop was built up against an existing store.
When this building went up the Yaguchi household was pressing oil and brewing soy sauce. Rapeseed, soybeans and casks of maturing shoyu are the obvious contents. The family had held land here since the early Edo period and its heads served as village headmen. Silk reeling came only with the Meiji era, which makes this the one surviving building from the earlier Yaguchi.
Why it is registered
The Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse is listed under the criterion covering things that would not be easy to reproduce. Most registered buildings in Makabe are cited for what they add to the streetscape. This one is cited because the technique and the materials behind it are effectively beyond recall.
An earthen storehouse is made by packing clay in layers over a timber armature, each coat left to dry before the next goes on. The process takes months and takes trained hands. Late Edo examples that have come through without heavy later alteration are steadily fewer, and that scarcity is the point.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs commentary describes the Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse as solidly made. The thickness of the walls, the weight of the doors and the height of the ridge courses were all chosen against fire and damp rather than for appearance, though they produce a strong appearance anyway.
After the great fire of the Tenpo era, Makabe shifted from thatch and boards to storehouse construction, and this building belongs to that generation. It was registered in 2000 together with the shop, the south sleeve storehouse and the gate.
What to look at
The detail to catch at the Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse is that its pairs of hinged doors sit at two different levels and face two different ways. The ground-floor opening faces the shop; the upper one faces the road. Goods handled within the household went in and out at the lower door, while anything loaded from the street went through the upper. The way the building was used is written into where its doors are.
Then look at the ridge. Courses of tile are stacked high on a building whose floor covers only 20 square metres, high enough to look top-heavy, so that from the road the outline of the roof keeps climbing. It sheds water, and it also announces the standing of the storehouse.
For a sense of scale, compare it with the shop next door, which covers 53 square metres. The gap is obvious. Even so the Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse does not read as small in the way the figure suggests, because so much of its bulk is wall.
The south sleeve storehouse, standing a little apart on the other side of the shop, follows the same formula. Walking the road and turning your head both ways makes the pairing legible. The southern one is a size larger.
Visiting
The Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse is privately owned and the interior is closed. Viewing is from the road, and there is nothing to pay. Sakuragawa City asks visitors not to enter private grounds when walking among the town's registered buildings. Photography from the public road is fine; keep the household out of frame.
Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line is the transport gateway: about 20 minutes by taxi, about 40 minutes by local bus to the Shimojuku stop. From Tsukuba Station, the Tsukuba City bus runs to Tsukubasan-guchi in about 50 minutes, and the Sakuragawa City bus covers the last stretch in about 20. Drivers should allow about 20 minutes from the Sakuragawa-Chikusei interchange, or about 50 minutes from Tsuchiura-kita via Route 125 and Prefectural Route 41.
Park at the Makabe Takajomachi car park, 279-1 Makabe, Makabe-cho, which holds 65 cars. It sits in the middle of the preservation district; Sakurai is a walk north from there.
The Makabe Hina Matsuri runs from 4 February to 3 March, when more than a hundred houses and shops put out doll displays and open their street-facing rooms. Admission is free. Which households join in changes from year to year, so check with the Sakuragawa Tourism Association. Traffic restrictions apply in the centre on some days.
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Q&A
- How old is the Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse?
- It dates from the late Edo period, roughly 1830 to 1867, which makes it the oldest of the nine registered buildings at the Yaguchi compound.
- What is a sleeve storehouse?
- A storehouse built tight against the side of a shop. The Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse stands to the north of the shop, with a matching one to the south.
- Can I go inside the Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse?
- No. It is private property and is not open, so viewing is limited to the exterior from the road.
- Why does the Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse have doors at two levels?
- The lower pair opens toward the shop and the upper pair toward the street, separating goods moved within the household from goods loaded off the road.
- Where is the Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse?
- At 373 Sakurai, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, about 20 minutes by taxi from Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line.
Basic Information
| Name | Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 373 Sakurai, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 28 April 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 20 square metres |
| Owner | Private owner (no owner name recorded in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public; exterior visible from the road |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: 谷口家住宅北袖蔵
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00001553
- Cultural Heritage Online: Yaguchi Family Residence North Sleeve Storehouse
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/181463
- Sakuragawa City: Makabe Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/education/bunkazai/city_bunkazai/kuni_bunkazai/page003423.html
- Sakuragawa City: Walking Makabe (registered cultural property map, PDF)
- https://www.city.sakuragawa.lg.jp/data/doc/1487569963_doc_23_1.pdf
Last verified: 2026.09.08