What Is the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House?
The Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House (旧東屋酒造店店舗兼主屋, Kyū Azumaya Shuzōten Tenpo-ken-shuoku) is a two-storey wooden townhouse built in the late Meiji period in Motomachi, Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture, and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 29, 2019.
It served the Azumaya family as both shop and home and faces west onto the Motomachi street. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House to the late Meiji years (1898 to 1912) and records alterations in the early Taisho period and in 1973. The roof is clad in metal sheeting, and the building covers 217 square meters.
The sake storehouse behind it and the pawn storehouse in the northwest corner of the lot both go back to the end of the Edo period, so the shop-house is the youngest of the three. A Meiji shopfront on the street and late-Edo storehouses behind it make up a single merchant compound.
Why the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House Was Registered
The Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House is registration number 03-107, listed for its contribution to the historic landscape. The agency singles out the wide-open front and its run of fine lattice as the features that shape the historic streetscape of old Miyako.
Inside, an earth-floored Doma runs along the south side, and six rooms sit to the north in two rows of three. The street-side room of the northern row is the formal Zashiki, and only that section of the facade is closed with horizontal Shitami-itabari boarding. The rest of the frontage is opened almost from post to post and filled with lattice.
What to Look for at the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House
Start with the street front. The building turns the gable of its Irimoya-zukuri roof to the road in the Tsumairi manner, so the full two-storey gable wall rises straight from the pavement.
On the ground floor, slender lattice fills every bay except the northern end, where a boarded wall closes off the zashiki. Read the two together and you can map the plan from outside: the doma and shop area behind the lattice, the reception room behind the boards.
The boarded section is only one room wide. Because lattice covers nearly everything else, that small closed panel at the north end catches the eye.
Visiting the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House
The building is privately owned, and public access to the interior could not be confirmed. The lattice, the boarded wall and the gable are all visible from the Motomachi street. Please do not enter the lot or the doma, and keep photography to the exterior from the street.
Stand on the far side of the road to take in the whole gable at once. The front faces west, so in the afternoon the sun falls across the lattice and the shadows sharpen.
The sake storehouse behind it is used by Cinema de Aeru, and visitors can go inside on screening and event days. The Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House is about a 12-minute walk from Miyako Station.
Q&A
- When was the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the late Meiji period (1898 to 1912), with alterations in the early Taisho years and in 1973. The sake and pawn storehouses on the same lot are older, from the end of the Edo period.
- Is the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, and since when?
- Yes. The Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on March 29, 2019, under number 03-107, for its contribution to the historic landscape.
- Can visitors go inside the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House?
- The Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House is privately owned, and public access to the interior could not be confirmed. The exterior can be seen from the street. The sake storehouse behind it opens on Cinema de Aeru screening and event days.
- What should I look for on the facade of the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House?
- Look at the gable end facing the street. On the ground floor only the northern bay, in front of the zashiki, is closed with horizontal boarding; the rest is fine lattice. The line between the two shows roughly where the doma ends and the formal room begins.
- How do I get to the Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House from Miyako Station?
- Miyako Station is served by the JR Yamada Line and the Sanriku Railway Rias Line. The Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House is about 900 meters away, a walk of around 12 minutes, on the east side of the Motomachi street.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | Motomachi 15 and others, Miyako City, Iwate Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | 2019 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Two-storey wooden building, building area 217 m² |
| Owner | Private individual |
| Public Access | Exterior only (no confirmed public access to the interior) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs database: Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00012674
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Azumaya Sake Brewery Store and Main House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/402358
- Miyako City: National and prefectural cultural properties list (PDF, Japanese)
- https://www.city.miyako.iwate.jp/material/files/group/39/2kunikennitirann.pdf
- Cinema de Aeru: About Azumaya (Japanese)
- https://www.cinemadeaeru.com/about-azumaya
Last verified: 2026.10.03
