What the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse is
The Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse is a single-storey clay-walled storehouse of the early Meiji era in the Sakurai district of Makabe, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture, entered in the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 12 July 2005 under registration number 08-0195. Its building area is 83 square metres.
It occupies the plot on the western side of the street, southwest of the stone storehouse, with its ridge running north to south. The building measures 6.5 by 3 bays under a Kirizuma-zukuri gable roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. That is large for a Dozo-zukuri storehouse, and among the nine registered Yaguchi properties only the main house covers more ground than the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse.
Toward the northern end of the eastern wall a short earth-plastered hood projects, and a doorway sits beneath it fitted with hinged fire doors. The hood creates a patch of dry ground in front of the opening so that goods can be moved while the doors stand open in the rain.
The Yaguchi family had held land here since the early Edo period and its heads served as village headmen. It pressed oil and brewed soy sauce in the late Edo years, then moved into silk reeling under the new Meiji government. This storehouse dates from precisely that transition.
Why it is registered
The Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse is listed under the criterion for buildings that contribute to the historic landscape. What gives Makabe its depth is not only the shopfronts on the street but the mass of storehouses standing behind and opposite them. The stone, rear and grain storehouses on the western side form one such block.
Those three carry a different address from the buildings opposite: 172 Sakurai rather than 373. The holding straddled the road, and looking at one side alone gives a partial picture. Registering the three together with the main house and detached wing in 2005 put that whole spread on record.
Condition matters here too. Clay storehouses demand constant attention to roof and render, and they decay quickly once they fall out of use. That an early Meiji example survives in registrable condition is evidence that this compound has been maintained without a long break, and the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse shows it.
The Makabe preservation district, about 17.6 hectares selected in 2010, covers part of the Makabe district proper. Sakurai adjoins it to the north and lies outside. Registration works independently of district selection, so the boundary has no effect either way.
What to look at
Count the windows on the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse. One in the north gable, two in the south gable, three along the western wall: six in all. A clay storehouse is normally built to have as few openings as possible, closed against fire and theft. Six windows is an exception worth pausing over.
The likely reason is that whatever was stored here needed air. The registration record does not say what that was. Given that the family's trade shifted from oil pressing to soy brewing to silk, several answers suggest themselves, and none can be confirmed.
On the exterior, the doorway under the projecting hood on the eastern wall repays a look. Hinged fire doors sit in its shadow. The hood does not reach far; it was sized to shed rain and no more, which is exactly how a storehouse thinks about every element.
Standing on the western side, the 6.5-bay length reads as noticeably horizontal. The stone storehouse and the grain storehouse on the same plot each run 6 bays, so the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse is marginally the longest. All three ridges point north to south, and together they set the character of this side of the road.
Visiting
The Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse is private property and closed inside. Viewing is from the road, free of charge. Sakuragawa City asks visitors not to enter the grounds of the town's registered properties, all of which are privately held. Photograph from the public road only.
Reach Makabe from Iwase Station on the JR Mito Line: about 20 minutes by taxi, or about 40 minutes by local bus to the Shimojuku stop. From Tsukuba Station, take the Tsukuba City bus about 50 minutes to Tsukubasan-guchi and change to the Sakuragawa City bus for about 20 minutes. By car allow about 20 minutes from the Sakuragawa-Chikusei interchange, or about 50 minutes from Tsuchiura-kita via Route 125 and Prefectural Route 41.
The Makabe Takajomachi car park at 279-1 Makabe, Makabe-cho holds 65 cars. It lies in the middle of the preservation district, and Sakurai is a walk north from there, so budget time for going on foot.
Between 4 February and 3 March the Makabe Hina Matsuri sees more than a hundred houses and shops set out dolls and open the rooms that face the street. Entry is free. Which households take part changes yearly; the Sakuragawa Tourism Association has current details.
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Q&A
- How many windows does the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse have?
- Six: one in the north gable, two in the south gable and three along the western wall. That is unusually many for a clay storehouse.
- Where does the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse stand?
- At 172 Sakurai, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, on the western side of the street and southwest of the stone storehouse.
- What is the projecting hood on the eastern wall for?
- It shelters the doorway of the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse so goods can be moved with the doors open in wet weather.
- When was the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse built?
- In the early Meiji era, while the Yaguchi household was moving from oil pressing and soy brewing into silk reeling.
- Is the interior of the Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse accessible?
- No. It is privately owned, and viewing is limited to the exterior from the road.
Basic Information
| Name | Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 172 Sakurai, Makabe-cho, Sakuragawa City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 12 July 2005 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 83 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: 谷口家住宅奥蔵
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00004710
- Cultural Heritage Online: Yaguchi Family Residence Rear Storehouse
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/189440
- 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
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education: Makabe Preservation District, Sakuragawa City
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-8557/
Last verified: 2026.09.08