A Storehouse Turned Guest Room
East of the reception desk at Hanaya Hotel stands a two-storey storehouse built in the traditional dozo manner, its thick walls packed and plastered over a timber frame. It runs six ken along the front and two and a half ken deep, under a gabled roof of unglazed pantiles.
The building dates to the Taisho period, the years between 1912 and 1925 when Hanaya was taking shape as a wooden inn in Bessho Onsen. Ueda at the time was a centre of the silk trade, and the town's hot springs filled with merchants who came to buy silkworm eggs.
What sets this storehouse apart is its second life. The ground floor kept its original storage use, but the upper floor was fitted out as a guest room, with the roof framing left open to view overhead.
On the Register for Its Street Face
The Agency for Cultural Affairs added the storehouse to the national register in 2006 as a structure that contributes to the historic character of its surroundings. It stands on the front side of the hotel and helps form the face the inn presents to the street.
Tall, narrow windows are spaced at even intervals along the outer wall, a rhythm typical of a working storehouse and unusual to find on a building that also welcomes overnight guests. The plastered walls and the pantile roof read clearly as a shopfront-era warehouse.
The listing recognises that mix: a utilitarian mud-walled store, kept intact on the outside, adapted inside to the hospitality that came to define Hanaya.
What to Look For
From the approach, the storehouse is one of the first buildings a guest passes, so its evenly ranked windows and pale plaster set the tone for the whole complex. Notice how the gable end differs from the hipped roofs of the guest wings deeper in the grounds.
If your stay places you in the upper room, look up. The exposed beam framing, normally hidden above a ceiling, is left visible here, turning a structural necessity into the room's main character.
The storehouse is part of a working ryokan, so access follows the rhythm of a stay. Guests can take in the front buildings on arrival and departure, when the light rakes across the plastered walls.
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Q&A
- What is a dozo storehouse?
- It is a Japanese warehouse built with thick, fire-resistant walls of packed earth plastered over a timber frame. This one rises two storeys under a gabled pantile roof.
- Why does the upper floor have exposed beams?
- The ground floor kept its storage use, while the second floor was converted into a guest room with the roof framing deliberately left visible overhead.
- When was it built?
- During the Taisho period, between 1912 and 1925, as Hanaya grew into a wooden inn.
- Where does it stand?
- On the front side of the hotel, east of the reception, where it helps shape the inn's street frontage.
Basic Information
| Name | Hanaya Hotel Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 169 Bessho Onsen, Ueda, Nagano Prefecture |
| Category / Listing | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), listed 18 October 2006 |
| Registration No. | 20-0283 |
| Count | One structure |
| Structure | Two-storey dozo (plastered) construction, gabled pantile roof; footprint approx. 60 sq m |
| Period | Taisho period (1912-1925) |
| Owner | Hanaya Hotel Co., Ltd. |
| Access | About 5 minutes on foot from Bessho Onsen Station (Ueda Electric Railway) |
| Note | Within a working ryokan; front-side building |
References
- 国指定文化財等データベース — 花屋ホテル（管理対象ID 00005859）
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005859
- 別所温泉旅館組合 — 別所温泉観光案内
- https://www.bessho-spa.jp/
- 旅館花屋 公式サイト — 館内・沿革のご案内
- https://www.hanaya.ne.jp/
Last verified: 2026.07.03