A Main House with a Tea-Lover's Inner Room
The Ebiki Main House (海老喜主屋) is a main house with a sukiya-style inner room of the late Meiji period in Toyomamachi Teraike, Tome City, Miyagi Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on May 10, 2018 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
The Agency records a single-storey timber house with a slate roof and a building area of 142 square metres; registration number 04-0153.
An Inner Room for a Tea Lover
Ebiki is a merchant house of miso and soy-sauce brewers in the old castle town of Toyoma, with eight buildings on its site registered (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The main house, of the late Meiji period, runs east-west at right angles behind the former shop.
From the shop side it has two formal rooms, a family room and an earthen floor at the front, with a kitchen and living rooms behind. Its tall exterior and the sukiya-style inner room, reflecting the owner's love of the tea ceremony, show one side of the design sense of the modern era (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Why It Was Registered
The Agency registered it as a model of design.
What to Look For
Look for the sukiya-style inner room and the tall exterior (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Visiting
The owner is not listed in the Agency record. According to the Ebiki website, the family business still makes and sells miso and soy sauce here. Ebiki and Tome City give the opening hours of the Kura no Shiryokan museum in the former sake brewery as 9:00 to 17:00, with admission of 200 yen; the former soy-sauce store (Ebiki Hall) is used for group meals by reservation only, and no other building is open inside. The eight buildings are introduced together on the Ebiki page.
Q&A
- When was it built?
- In the late Meiji period (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
- Where is it?
- Behind the former shop.
- How is it laid out?
- Formal rooms, family room and kitchen.
- What stands out?
- A sukiya-style inner room.
- When was the Ebiki Main House registered?
- On May 10, 2018 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).
Basic Information
| Name | Ebiki Main House (海老喜主屋) |
|---|---|
| Location | 22 Toyomamachi Teraike, Tome City, Miyagi Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2018/05/10 (Heisei 30) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Single-storey timber, slate roof, 142 m² |
| Owner | Not listed in the Agency database |
| Public Access | No official information on access |
References
- Ebiki Main House (Database of National Cultural Properties, Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00012273
- Kura no Shiryokan (Ebiki, in Japanese)
- https://ebiki.com/?mode=f3
- Historic sights (Tome City, in Japanese)
- https://www.city.tome.miyagi.jp/kanko/tourism/see/rekishi/index.html
Last verified: 2026.10.28
