A Gate Between the Yard and the Garden
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Middle Gate (武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅中門) is a timber gate of 1909 within 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 two metres wide and stands between a wing that projects from the north side of the gate house and the south face of the main house.
The gate divides two very different spaces. On one side is the approach: an area bounded by the gate house, the east storehouse, the entrance of the main house and the Toriniwa, the through-passage that leads on to the brewing yard. On the other side is the south garden of the main house, reserved for the family. Passing this gate is the line between guest and household.
The main house dates from the same year, 1909, and the gate was evidently part of the same building campaign. The Takeshige family had been brewing since 1868, and by the close of the Meiji era they were giving their home a proper front.
Why It Is Listed
The register lists the gate under the criterion of serving as a model of design. It is a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled gate, roofed with Sangawara-buki pantiles, built of keyaki (Japanese zelkova), a hard, richly grained timber chosen for work meant to last. Where the gate house and shop present the estate to the road, this gate works inside it, and though small it carries its status in the quality of its material and joinery.
A brewing family's estate stacks the workplace and the home on the same ground. The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Middle Gate is the device that separates them with a single opening, and it is the key to reading the plan of the compound. Among the 30 structures registered together in 2000, it is the one that speaks most directly about how people moved through the place.
What to Look For
Because the gate stands inside the estate, it cannot be seen from the road. Only someone who has come through the gate house and is heading for the entrance of the main house will notice, to one side, this small gate opening onto the south garden. On the annual open day, look for the corner formed by the south face of the main house and the projecting wing of the gate house.
Keyaki darkens with age. Note the grain of the posts and the lintel, the little pantiled roof, and the glimpse of garden beyond. Against the white walls of the gate house and the plastered east storehouse, this is a gate that announces itself by the colour of wood.
What lies beyond is the family's garden, so for a visitor the gate is also a sign that says this far and no further. The courteous way to admire the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Middle Gate is to stop in front of it.
Visiting and Getting There
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Middle Gate lies inside the compound, between the gate house wing and the south face of the main house, and is not visible from the old Nakasendō. You may see it while walking from the gate house to the entrance during shop hours, or on the annual open day. The garden beyond it is private, so please do not pass through.
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 Middle Gate built?
- In 1909 (Meiji 42), the same year as the main house, and evidently as part of the same building project.
- Where is the middle gate?
- Between a wing projecting from the north side of the gate house and the south face of the main house. It separates the working approach to the brewing yard from the private south garden.
- Can the middle gate be seen from the road?
- No. It stands inside the compound and can only be seen after entering through the gate house, during shop hours or on the open day.
- What is the gate made of?
- It is a gabled timber gate about two metres wide, roofed with pantiles and built of keyaki, Japanese zelkova, with careful joinery.
- Why was the gate registered?
- It was registered on 26 September 2000 with the other 29 structures of the estate under the criterion of serving as a model of design, for its role in dividing the yard from the garden and for the quality of its keyaki construction.
Basic Information
| Name | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Middle Gate |
|---|---|
| Location | 2179 Higashimachi, Motai, Saku City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 26 September 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 structure |
| Dimensions | Timber, width 2 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中門
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001798
- 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