A Hachiman Shrine at the Back of the Estate
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Household Shrine (武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅屋敷神) is a small shrine of 1930 at the rear of a working sake brewery's estate 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 single-storey timber structure roofed in copper sheet with a floor area of 8.6 square metres, standing north of the west storehouse and north-west of the document storehouse.
The outer building is a protective shelter, an ōiya, eight shaku square, about 2.4 metres, with an Irimoya-zukuri hipped-and-gabled copper roof, vertical boarding on its lower walls and lattice openings above. Inside it stands a one-bay sanctuary in the Nagare-zukuri style, a Hachiman shrine said to have been branched from the Hachiman shrine at Kamakura. A Kirizuma-zukuri gabled worship hall, also copper-roofed, is attached in front. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records the tradition that the shrine was rebuilt to mark the birth of the head of the family at the time of registration.
A yashikigami is a tutelary deity enshrined within a family's own grounds, for a brewer the guardian of safe brewing and the house's prosperity. In front of it stands a stone torii of 1827, more than a century older than the shrine building, a sign of how long worship has continued on this spot.
Why It Is Listed
The register lists the shrine under the criterion of serving as a model of design. A sanctuary housed in a shelter with a worship hall before it is the basic form of a Shinto shrine reduced to a corner of a private estate, a complete shrine in miniature. The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Household Shrine was registered, with its torii, as an element of a brewing family's compound.
The tradition that the sanctuary was branched from Kamakura's Hachiman shrine ties into the family's own story. The Takeshige trace their line to retainers of the Takeda who settled in Motai early in the Edo period. Hachiman is the guardian deity of warrior houses, and to enshrine his spirit on the estate is to declare that descent.
A date of 1930 makes this one of the youngest of the estate's 30 structures. It records that the custom of rebuilding the household shrine to mark the birth of an heir was still alive in the early Shōwa years.
What to Look For
The shrine lies at the back of the estate, north of the west storehouse, and cannot be seen from the road. If you enter the grounds on the open day, look north-west of the document storehouse for a small building with a copper roof and vertical boarding. The stone torii will point you to it.
Through the lattice at the top of the shelter you can glimpse the sanctuary within. A one-bay nagare-zukuri shrine is a tiny building one bay wide whose front roof slope sweeps down to cover the steps. Because the sanctuary of the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Household Shrine is protected by its shelter, the curve of that flowing roof has never been weathered.
The worship hall in front has a gabled roof. Seen through the torii, the hipped roof of the shelter and the gable of the hall overlap, one behind the other, both in copper. Copper greens with age, and among the white walls of the cellars this is the one building that has changed colour.
Visiting and Getting There
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Household Shrine stands at the back of the estate north of the west storehouse and is not visible from the old Nakasendō. Even on the open day around the spring equinox, how far visitors may go into the residential side varies by year; follow the day's guidance, and remember when approaching that it is a place of worship.
Takeshige Honke is a working brewery and the Takeshige family's home. The buildings are not open to the public on a regular basis, and the only routine way into the compound is to call at the office and shop during business hours, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. It closes on weekends, national holidays, the New Year period and the old-calendar Bon holiday in summer. Once a year, around the spring equinox (usually 20 or 21 March), the brewery holds an open day, when visitors can walk through the fermentation cellars and taste the sake. For the 2026 open day a chartered shuttle bus ran from Sakudaira Station. The brewery also arranges reservation-only tastings in a converted cellar, some of which include a short tour, so it is worth checking the official website before travelling.
The nearest station is Sakudaira on the Hokuriku Shinkansen. From there, a Chikuma Bus bound for Mochizuki and Ashida stops at Motai-iriguchi, about two minutes on foot from the brewery, but the service runs on weekdays only. At weekends, plan on a taxi or car: the drive is about 30 minutes and roughly 15 kilometres. From the Joshin-etsu Expressway, both the Saku and Yunomaru interchanges are about 30 minutes away by car. Photography from the public road is unrestricted; inside the compound, follow the staff's guidance during events.
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Q&A
- When was the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Household Shrine built?
- In 1930 (Shōwa 5). By family tradition it was rebuilt to mark the birth of the head of the house at the time of registration.
- What deity is enshrined there?
- Hachiman, said to have been branched from the Hachiman shrine at Kamakura. The one-bay nagare-zukuri sanctuary stands inside a copper-roofed shelter eight shaku square, with a gabled worship hall in front.
- How old is the torii in front of the household shrine?
- The stone torii dates from 1827 (Bunsei 10), more than a century before the present shrine building, and is registered separately as a cultural property.
- Can visitors see the household shrine?
- It is at the rear of the estate and cannot be seen from the road. On the open day, access to the residential side varies from year to year.
- Why was the household shrine registered?
- It was registered on 26 September 2000 under the criterion of serving as a model of design, for its composition of sanctuary, shelter and worship hall as an element of a sake brewer's estate.
Basic Information
| Name | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Household Shrine |
|---|---|
| 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, single storey, copper-sheet roof, floor area 8.6 square metres (shelter eight shaku square) |
| 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屋敷神
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001796
- 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