A Two-Storey Warehouse That Pretends to Be Three
Immediately west of the Miharaya shop, running north to south, stands the North Storehouse, or Kitagura. It is a two-storey earthen-walled warehouse (dozo) of about five and a half by two and a half ken, with a tiled roof and a building area of some 44 square metres. Inside, the space is divided into two rooms, north and south, with two doorways opening on the east face.
The storehouse dates from around 1872, the same rebuilding years as the shop beside it. On the register it carries the number 20-0122, one of the six Miharaya buildings entered together in 2003.
Designed for the Eye on the Street
The North Storehouse rewards a closer look at its north gable, the end that faces the Omachi-do. There the lower lean-to section (geya) is finished in namako-kabe, the black-tile-and-white-plaster lattice that a merchant used both to guard against fire and to dress up a facade. The effect tidies the streetscape and lends the corner its ordered, prosperous look.
There is a quieter trick as well. The windows on this gable are set high, so that a building of only two storeys reads from the street as if it rose to three. It is a modest piece of theatre in plaster and timber, and once you notice it you cannot un-see it.
Part of a Registered Group
The North Storehouse was never meant to stand alone. It belongs to a run of shop and storehouses that together earned registration as buildings contributing to the historic landscape. Read as a set, the group shows how a single merchant family shaped a street corner over the Meiji years, balancing working warehouse space against the face it chose to present.
Because Miharaya remains a working brewer, these are not stage sets. The North Storehouse still does the plain job it was built for, which is part of why its street-facing artifice has survived intact.
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Questions & Answers
- Why does the North Storehouse look three storeys tall?
- Its north gable has windows set high on the wall, a deliberate design that makes a two-storey building read as three from the street.
- What is namako-kabe?
- A fire-resistant wall finish of square black tiles set in a diamond grid and jointed with raised white plaster. The name means “sea-cucumber wall.” The North Storehouse uses it on its street-facing gable.
- How big is the building?
- About 44 square metres, roughly five and a half by two and a half ken, on two floors divided inside into a north and a south room.
- When was it built?
- Around 1872, in the same early-Meiji rebuilding that produced the neighbouring shop.
- Is it open to visitors?
- It is a private working storehouse, best appreciated from the street. Please view it from outside and respect the business.
Basic Information
| Name | Miharaya Shoten Kitagura (North Storehouse) |
|---|---|
| Location | 879-1 Sakuraeda-cho, Nagano City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (registration no. 20-0122) |
| Registered | 18 March 2003 (gazetted 8 April 2003) |
| Count | 1 building |
| Structure | Earthen-walled, two storeys, tiled roof; building area approx. 44 m2 |
| Date | Around 1872 (early Meiji era) |
| Owner | Miharaya Co., Ltd. |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database — Miharaya Shoten North Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00003235
- Nagano City — List of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.nagano.nagano.jp/n151100/contents/p002914.html
- Miharaya Co., Ltd. — official site
- https://miharaya.co.jp/
Last verified: 2026.07.05