Retirement Quarters on a Stone Terrace
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing (武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅離れ) is a Taisho-era (1912 to 1926) retirement house in the estate of a working sake brewery on the old Nakasendō road in Motai, Saku City, Nagano Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 26 September 2000. It is a two-storey timber building under a tiled roof with a floor area of 88 square metres, set toward the back of a long north-south plot at the south-western corner of the estate, a plot levelled behind a stone retaining wall.
The plan measures five and a half bays by four and a half, roughly 10 metres by 8 metres, with the ridge running north to south under a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. Two tatami rooms of eight and six mats occupy the south side, and a lavatory and bath extend along the western fence. There is no direct link to the main house; the wing is reached by a stepped corridor that passes through the west storehouse.
A hanare of this kind is where the retired head of a family lived after handing over the business. The Takeshige, brewing since 1868, rebuilt their main house in 1909 and added this wing in the following era. Connecting the head's house and the retired parents' house through a corridor that threads a storehouse is a plan that shows how a brewing family lived.
Why It Is Listed
The register lists the wing under the criterion of contributing to the nation's historic landscape. The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing holds the south-western corner of the estate, and from the old Nakasendō its tiled roof rises above a stone wall topped by a fence. Wall, fence and house together give the road the look of a small castle.
The terrace is not natural ground. It was deliberately raised behind a masonry retaining wall, lifting the retirement quarters above the noise of the road while giving them a view over it. The stone wall that encloses the plot on three sides is registered as a separate structure.
Within the estate the wing lies west of the main house and beyond the west storehouse, with a four-and-a-half-mat tea room in the corner of its south garden. Wing, stone wall and tea room are best read as one group; all three were registered on the same day in 2000.
What to Look For
Walk west along the old Nakasendō from the shop, and where the white wall of the west storehouse ends a high stone embankment appears on the right. Above it runs a fence with a little pantiled roof, and behind the fence rises the gabled roof of a two-storey house. This is how the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing presents itself to the street.
Notice the give in the stonework. The wall is not a rigid line; it is laid with a gentle slackness, and the boundary between grey stone and white fence draws a soft curve. Above it the gable end of the wing hints at the south-facing rooms behind.
Inside the estate, a corridor climbs from the main house through the west storehouse. It climbs because the plot of the wing is a full step higher. Even from the road, looking up at the stone, you can sense how that difference in level gives the retirement quarters their quiet.
Visiting and Getting There
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing occupies the south-western corner of the estate, and its gabled two-storey roof can be seen from the old Nakasendō above the stone wall. The best viewpoint is the corner where the west storehouse ends and the stone wall begins. The interior and the connecting corridor are private, and the residential side of the estate should be assumed off-limits even on the open day.
This is a brewery still making sake, and a private house. There are no regular interior tours. The compound can be entered on weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., when the office and shop are open for sales; it is closed on weekends, national holidays, the New Year period and the old-calendar Bon holiday. The one reliable chance to go inside is the annual open day around the spring equinox, usually 20 or 21 March, with cellar tours and tastings. In 2026 the brewery laid on a chartered bus from Sakudaira Station for the occasion. Reservation-only tasting sessions, sometimes with a walk through the cellars, are announced on the official website.
By public transport, take a Chikuma Bus from JR Sakudaira Station toward Mochizuki and Ashida and get off at Motai-iriguchi, a walk of about two minutes. The buses run only on weekdays, so at weekends allow about 30 minutes by taxi or car from Sakudaira, a distance of some 15 kilometres. Drivers coming off the Joshin-etsu Expressway at the Saku or Yunomaru interchanges should also allow about 30 minutes. You are free to photograph the streetscape from the road; within the grounds, ask the staff during events.
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Q&A
- When was the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing built?
- In the Taisho era (1912 to 1926). The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the period but not a specific year.
- What kind of building is the detached wing?
- A two-storey timber retirement house of 88 square metres under a tiled gabled roof, with eight- and six-mat rooms on the south side and a lavatory and bath along the west fence.
- Is the detached wing connected to the main house?
- Yes, by a stepped corridor that runs from the main house through the west storehouse. The corridor climbs because the wing's plot was raised on a stone retaining wall.
- Can visitors see the detached wing?
- The interior is private. From the old Nakasendō you can see its gabled roof above the stone wall and fence that enclose the plot.
- Why was the detached wing registered?
- It was registered on 26 September 2000 under the criterion of contributing to the nation's historic landscape, for the castle-like scene it creates with its stone wall along the old Nakasendō.
Basic Information
| Name | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing |
|---|---|
| Location | 2179 Higashimachi, Motai, Saku City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 26 September 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, 2 storeys, tiled roof, floor area 88 square metres (5 and a half by 4 and a half bays) |
| Owner | Not recorded in the ACA database (within the Takeshige family estate) |
| Public Access | Not open to the public (working brewery and private home); shop entry weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; interiors on the open day around the spring equinox |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: 武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅離れ
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001785
- Saku City: Motai Ai-no-shuku (Nakasendo rest station)
- https://www.city.saku.nagano.jp/kanko/kanko/spot/nakasendo/motaiainoshuku/motaiainoshuku.html
- Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery, official website
- https://takeshige-honke.jp/
- Shinshu Tateshina Tourism Association: Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery
- https://shirakabakogen.jp/spot/takeshiga_honke_syuzo
Last verified: 2026.09.10