Nagaoki

Nagaoki

Nagaoki (長沖) is a restaurant founded around the end of the Meiji era on the left bank at the mouth of the Kakehashi River in Ataka-machi, Komatsu City, Ishikawa Prefecture, and three of its buildings, the guest rooms Nagaoki Kongo and Nagaoki Benkei and the storehouse Nagaoki Storehouse, were registered as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (structures) on November 17, 2015 (Agency for Cultural Affairs; Komatsu City).

According to Komatsu City, Nagaoki began around the end of the Meiji era as a beach teahouse and today runs as a restaurant. The newsletter of the Komatsu City history office calls it Ryotei Nagaoki, a ryotei being a traditional Japanese restaurant with private rooms.

Three Buildings Brought Together

All three registered buildings at Nagaoki were bought from earlier owners (Komatsu City). Nagaoki Kongo was a detached guest wing of the Matsumura family, shipping agents in Ataka; it was moved here in 1946 and stands east of the restaurant's main house. The city history office names Eijiro, the second proprietor, as the man who bought and moved it.

Nagaoki Benkei was built as reception rooms for a textile trading company in Oyama-machi, Kanazawa, and was moved here in 1979; it stands north of the main house (Komatsu City). Nagaoki Storehouse belonged to the Seto family, another Ataka shipping agent, and Nagaoki bought it between 1935 and 1944 to use as a tool shed.

Kongo and Benkei stand within the restaurant grounds; the storehouse is outside them, southeast of the Ataka Sumiyoshi Shrine car park (Komatsu City). Measured on the Agency database map, Benkei is about 45 metres from Kongo and the storehouse about 110 metres. The main house where guests arrive is not itself registered.

Nagaoki and the Kitamaebune Port of Ataka

Ataka grew up at the mouth of the Kakehashi River and flourished from the Edo period into the Meiji era as the port for the northern part of southern Kaga; goods landed here travelled on by boat across the three Kaga lakes to Komatsu and the villages of Nomi District (Komatsu City history office). Both the Matsumura family, first owners of Nagaoki Kongo, and the Seto family, who built Nagaoki Storehouse, ran shipping businesses at this port (Komatsu City).

On May 24, 2018, Komatsu was added to the Japan Heritage story on the ports of call and shipowners' villages of the kitamaebune, the merchant ships of the Sea of Japan coast. Ishikawa Prefecture listed Nagaoki's Kongo and storehouse among Komatsu's related properties (Ishikawa Prefecture).

Visiting Nagaoki

Nagaoki still operates as a restaurant (Komatsu City), and Nagaoki Kongo and Nagaoki Benkei are in use as its dining rooms. The interiors can only be seen as a restaurant guest; no official information was found on whether a particular room can be requested or whether visits without a meal are accepted, so ask the restaurant about reservations and photography. No information on interior access to the storehouse was found either.

Nagaoki is close to Ataka Sumiyoshi Shrine, about 3.6 km northwest of JR Komatsu Station in a straight line (based on the Agency database map). No official public transport route was confirmed.