What the Iida Family Residence Is
The Iida Family Residence (飯田家住宅, Iida-ke Jūtaku) is a sake brewer's compound in Toyoshina Takibe, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture, whose 13 buildings and structures, centred on a late Edo-period main house, were registered together as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on December 26, 2005.
The district name 高家 is read Takibe. The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes the household as the home of a sake-making business trading as 飯野屋, and the names of the storehouses on the lot still say what each one held or made: rice, miso, pawned goods, books and papers, yeast starter, and two long brewing halls.
The 13 registered items are the main house, the archive storehouse with retirement quarters, the pawn storehouse, the miso storehouse, the yeast starter storehouse, the rice storehouse, brewing storehouses 1 and 2, storage sheds 1 and 2, the gatehouse, the inner gate and the garden wall. Azumino City lists them on a single line of its heritage register, and no other private property in the city has as many national registrations on one site. The residence is privately owned and is not run as a museum.
A Compound That Grew Over 150 Years
Put the construction dates from the national register in order and the Iida Family Residence reads like a timeline. The main house belongs to the late Edo period. The rice storehouse is dated 1859 and the archive storehouse 1875. The pawn storehouse and brewing storehouse 2 are early Meiji, and the miso storehouse is given simply as Meiji. Brewing storehouse 1, storage shed 1, the gatehouse, the inner gate and the garden wall all date to the late Meiji years, the yeast starter storehouse followed in 1914, and storage shed 2 was added in the early Showa era.
Existing buildings were enlarged along the way: the main house in late Meiji, the rice storehouse in 1900, the archive storehouse early in Meiji, and brewing storehouse 1 in the early Showa era. Most of the change happened during the Meiji era (1868 to 1912).
Three of the buildings, the yeast starter storehouse and the two brewing storehouses, housed sake production itself, and storage shed 1 was originally used for polishing sake rice. The sequence of dates suggests a household that kept its Edo-period home at the centre, added storehouses as the business grew, and closed the perimeter with gates and walls toward the end of Meiji.
How the Iida Family Residence Is Laid Out
The main house stands near the middle of the lot facing south, with a separate reception wing projecting to the east. The archive storehouse runs along the east edge, the pawn storehouse sits northeast of the main house, and the small miso storehouse stands northwest of that. Storehouses tied to the family's daily life and property cluster to the east and north of the house.
The production buildings take the north and west sides. The yeast starter storehouse occupies the northwest corner, with brewing storehouse 1 joined to its east side along the middle of the north edge. Brewing storehouse 2, with its chimney, runs parallel just to the south. Down the west edge come the yeast starter storehouse, the rice storehouse and storage shed 1; at the southwest corner storage shed 2 turns at a right angle and meets the gatehouse. A tiled earthen wall with a kabukimon gate links the gatehouse to the main house, and a 63-meter wall wraps the garden to the southeast, pierced by the inner gate.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the brewing halls shape the view of the estate from the north, the rice storehouse from the west, brewing storehouse 2 from the east, and the gates and walls from the south. Each side of the Iida Family Residence has buildings that give it a face.
Visiting the Iida Family Residence
The Iida Family Residence is a private home, and the grounds are not open to the public. As of September 2026 no regular openings or guided visits had been announced. What can be seen is the exterior from the surrounding roads; the gates are not to be passed.
Treat the lanes around the house as a neighbourhood rather than a sightseeing spot. Keep photography to building exteriors taken from the road, avoid lingering at the gates, and do not park on the street. Azumino City asks heritage visitors not to trouble owners or neighbours. Questions about the property can go to the Cultural Property Protection Section of the Azumino City Board of Education's Cultural Affairs Division (tel. 0263-71-2464).
The nearest station is Nakagaya on the JR Ōito Line, about 1.8 kilometers west of the house, roughly a 25-minute walk. Hitoichiba and Azusabashi stations are each about 2.3 kilometers away, around 30 minutes on foot. From Matsumoto Station, the simplest approach is to ride the Ōito Line to Nakagaya.
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Iida Family Residence Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005168
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Iida Family Residence Rice Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005174
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Iida Family Residence Yeast Starter Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005173
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Iida Family Residence Storage Shed 1
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005177
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Iida Family Residence Gatehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005179
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Iida Family Residence Wall
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00005181
- Cultural Heritage Online: Iida Family Residence Main House
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/140938
- Azumino City: List of Cultural Properties (Japanese)
- https://www.city.azumino.nagano.jp/site/kyoiku/10156.html
Last verified: 2026.09.22
Basic Information
| Name | Iida Family Residence |
|---|---|
| Location | 604-1 Toyoshina Takibe, Azumino City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (13) |
| Coordinates | 36.26913, 137.92098 |
