The Wall That Encloses the Retirement Quarters
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing Stone Wall (武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅離れ石垣塀) is a Taisho-era (1912 to 1926) retaining wall and fence enclosing the retirement quarters 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 built of stone and timber and runs for 10 metres.
The plot of the retirement quarters, the hanare, sits at the south-western corner of the estate on ground levelled behind a stone embankment. The structure registered here is that embankment on the north, east and south sides of the plot, together with the fence that runs along its top: a Shinkabe wall of exposed timber framing and white plaster, capped by a small double-pitched roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. Stone and fence form a single listed structure.
The masonry is laid in two patterns, kikkō-zumi, in which near-hexagonal stones fit together like the plates of a tortoise shell, and yahazu-zumi, in which stones are set on the diagonal so the joints form a herringbone of arrow feathers. Both give the wall a tidy, deliberate face.
Why It Is Listed
The register lists the wall under the criterion of being not easily reproduced. The Agency for Cultural Affairs notes the careful masonry and the way the wall is laid with a gentle slackness, and observes that, with the fence above it, it gives the old Nakasendō the look of a small fortification.
That slackness is the point. The face of the wall is not a rigid plane; it has a slight give, different from the sweeping curve of a castle rampart but enough to soften the line where grey stone meets white plaster. Reproducing that quality of looseness by hand is not something modern construction manages easily.
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing Stone Wall does not stand alone. It works with the retirement house above it and the tea room in its corner, lifting the quarters a step above the road while presenting the road with a castle-like front, and it does both with stone and plaster.
What to Look For
Follow the old Nakasendō west from the shop until the white wall of the west storehouse ends and the stonework rises on the right. From here on you are looking at the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing Stone Wall. Start with the shapes of the stones. Find where the tortoise-shell pattern gives way to the herringbone, and you begin to see the mason's sequence.
Then follow the top edge of the stone with your eye. It is not straight; it eases. The white fence sits on that line, and the tiles of its little roof throw a thin shadow onto the join between grey and white. Behind the fence, the gabled roof of the retirement house shows itself.
At the south-western corner the fence continues as the wall of the tea room. Stone wall and tea room share one plane there, and the three structures of this corner reveal how tightly they are built into one another. Ten metres is not long, but there is a lot to see in them.
Visiting and Getting There
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing Stone Wall faces the old Nakasendō, so the masonry and fence can be studied at close range from the road. Walk from the corner where the west storehouse ends along the east and south sides of the plot. The north side lies inside the estate and cannot be seen. Please do not climb on or touch the stonework.
The Takeshige compound is both residence and brewery, and its interiors are not open as a rule. Visitors may enter the grounds to buy sake at the office and shop on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.; the brewery is closed on weekends, national holidays, at New Year and during the old-calendar Bon holiday. The cellars, including the fermentation storehouses, open once a year around the spring equinox (usually 20 or 21 March) for tours and tastings, and for the 2026 open day a chartered bus was provided from Sakudaira Station. Reservation-only tastings held in a renovated cellar sometimes include a guided walk, so check the official site for dates.
To get there, ride the Hokuriku Shinkansen to Sakudaira, then a Chikuma Bus toward Mochizuki and Ashida to the Motai-iriguchi stop, about two minutes' walk from the gate. Because the bus operates on weekdays only, weekend visitors should budget about 30 minutes and 15 kilometres by taxi or car from Sakudaira. The Saku and Yunomaru interchanges on the Joshin-etsu Expressway are each about 30 minutes away. Taking photographs from the old Nakasendō is fine; inside the compound, follow staff instructions during open events.
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Q&A
- When was the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing Stone Wall built?
- In the Taisho era (1912 to 1926), at the same time as the retirement quarters, to raise their plot a step above the road.
- What is the stone wall made of?
- A stone retaining wall on the north, east and south sides of the retirement quarters' plot, topped by a plastered timber-framed fence with a small pantiled roof. The masonry is laid in tortoise-shell and herringbone patterns, and the whole runs for 10 metres.
- Can the stone wall be seen from the road?
- Yes. It faces the old Nakasendō and can be viewed closely along the east and south sides of the plot, starting where the west storehouse ends. The north side is inside the estate.
- What are kikko-zumi and yahazu-zumi?
- Two masonry patterns. Kikko-zumi fits near-hexagonal stones together like a tortoise shell; yahazu-zumi sets stones on the diagonal so the joints form a herringbone like arrow feathers.
- Why was the stone wall registered?
- It was registered on 26 September 2000 under the criterion of being not easily reproduced, for its careful masonry laid with a gentle slackness and for the castle-like scene it creates with the fence along the old Nakasendō.
Basic Information
| Name | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Detached Wing Stone Wall |
|---|---|
| Location | 2179 Higashimachi, Motai, Saku City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 26 September 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | Stone and timber, length 10 metres |
| 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石垣塀
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001810
- 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