Hirabayashi Family Residence (Shio no Michi Chojiya)

The salt merchants of the Chikuni Kaido

The Hirabayashi Family Residence (Shio no Michi Chojiya) in Omachi, Omachi City, Nagano Prefecture, is the former home and business of the Hirabayashi family, salt wholesalers on the old Chikuni Kaido highway; its main house, built in 1890, and a row of storehouses begun in the late Edo period were registered as two Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on October 27, 2017. The property now opens to the public as Shio no Michi Chojiya, a museum of the "Salt Road", with a small hall on the town's summer festival on the same grounds.

The Chikuni Kaido ran from the Matsumoto basin along the foot of the Northern Alps to Itoigawa on the Sea of Japan coast. Salt and seafood came inland along it, hence its popular name, the Salt Road. Omachi grew up as a post town on the route, and in the Edo period the Matsumoto domain appointed the Hirabayashi house as the town's salt wholesaler. The museum says the head of the family counted among the ten elders who led Omachi, and that after the Meiji Restoration the family also brewed soy sauce and miso.

Two other houses in Nagano Prefecture are registered under the identical name Hirabayashi Family Residence Main House, one in Hirooka Harashinden, Shiojiri, and one in Sasaga, Matsumoto. They belong to different families and are separate registrations.

A fireproof shopfront with storehouses behind

The property sits in the centre of Omachi, its main house facing south onto the street. According to the Agency for Cultural Affairs, the house was rebuilt after the great fire of 1889 to a design by the master carpenter Tateishi Seijū, with measures against fire worked into it, and it was the first merchant house in Omachi built in the thick-walled Dozo-zukuri manner. It has a frontage of 7 bays, a formal Shikidai entrance and a separate wing of reception rooms.

North of the house, at the back of the plot, stands a single range combining three storehouses: a document storehouse, a pickle storehouse and a salt storehouse. The document storehouse, the oldest part, dates from the late Edo period; it was repaired in 1859, and the pickle and salt storehouses were added in 1869.

Walk through the earth-floored hall of the house and out the back, and the storehouses line up on the left, with the festival hall on the right. Shop and living quarters on the street, goods and family valuables in fireproof stores behind: the plan is the classic layout of a wholesaler's premises on a busy highway.

Two registered buildings

The two registrations are the Hirabayashi Family Residence Main House (number 20-0515) and the storehouse range (number 20-0516). The house was registered as a model of form, the storehouses as buildings that contribute to the historic landscape.

The Agency records the house as dozo-zukuri, 2 storeys, with a tiled roof and a building area of 313 m², and the storehouse range likewise as dozo-zukuri, 2 storeys, tiled, with a building area of 186 m². The museum describes them as the first buildings in Omachi City to be added to the national register.

Visiting

Shio no Michi Chojiya opens from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. between April and October, and from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. between November and March; last entry is 30 minutes before closing. It is closed on Wednesdays and over the New Year holidays. Admission is 500 yen for adults and 250 yen for elementary and junior high school students, and free for preschool children (as listed by Omachi City and the museum in October 2026).

The visit begins in the main house, with the counting room of the salt business and family furnishings on the ground floor and displays on the Salt Road upstairs, then continues to the storehouses and the festival hall at the back. The museum suggests allowing 30 to 40 minutes, and groups can ask for a free guided tour.

The museum's published information does not say whether photography is allowed inside, so ask at the reception before taking pictures.

Getting there

The nearest station is Shinano-Omachi on the JR Oito Line; the museum gives the walk as 5 minutes, and the property lies about 500 metres north of the station in a straight line. By car it is about 30 minutes from the Azumino interchange on the Nagano Expressway. The museum has free parking for 7 cars and 4 coaches, and there is a free municipal car park close by.