A Small Cellar Paired with the Document Storehouse
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Miso Storehouse (武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅味噌蔵) is an earthen storehouse of about 1912 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 building of Dozo-zukuri construction under a tiled roof, with a floor area of 20 square metres.
It stands north of the main house and east of the document storehouse. The plan is three bays by two, about 5.5 metres by 3.6 metres, with the ridge running east to west under a set-on (okiyane) roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. It was built in the same form as the document storehouse, and between that building's porch and the western gable of the miso storehouse a rear gate opens.
A miso-gura is where a household's miso was left to mature. A brewery handles rice and koji as a matter of course, so making its own miso was normal. The main house of 1909 and the document storehouse of 1912 belong to a late-Meiji building campaign, and the miso storehouse went up at about the same time.
Why It Is Listed
The register lists the storehouse under the criterion of serving as a model of design. The Agency's commentary notes that it matches the document storehouse in form and that the two together mark the boundary between the residential grounds and the brewing yard. They were conceived as a pair, with the rear gate between them as the link between home and work.
At 20 square metres, it is among the smallest of the estate's 30 structures, larger only than the household shrine and the tea room. But the value of the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Miso Storehouse lies in placement rather than size. The two cellars stand like a wall with a gate in it, and that line separates the family's garden from the brewing floor.
Matching roofs, matching orientation and matching height make the two storehouses read as one composition. From the inner drawing room, looking across the garden, the black-plastered face of the document storehouse has the small miso storehouse beside it in the same silhouette.
What to Look For
The miso storehouse is inside the estate and cannot be seen from the road. On the open day, look south from the brewing yard and you will see the document storehouse and the miso storehouse side by side with the rear gate between them. You cannot pass through into the residential side, but locating the gate tells you where the estate divides in two.
Compare the pair. Step back far enough to hold both in view and the shared roof form, wall height and gable orientation become clear. The difference is scale: four bays for the document storehouse, three for the miso storehouse, an elder and a younger sibling.
The western gable of the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Miso Storehouse faces the rear gate. The narrow space between it and the porch of the document storehouse opposite is the most meaningful gap in the whole estate.
Visiting and Getting There
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Miso Storehouse stands inside the estate north of the main house and is not visible from the old Nakasendō. On the open day around the spring equinox it can be seen from the brewing yard, paired with the document storehouse and flanking the rear gate. The garden beyond the gate is private.
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 Miso Storehouse built?
- Around 1912 (Meiji 45). The document storehouse it matches dates from 1912, and the miso storehouse was built at about the same time.
- What is the miso storehouse?
- A small two-storey earthen storehouse of 20 square metres with a set-on tiled roof, three bays by two, built in the same form as the document storehouse beside it.
- What lies between the miso storehouse and the document storehouse?
- The rear gate, opening between the document storehouse's porch and the miso storehouse's western gable, the passage that connects the residential grounds with the brewing yard.
- Can visitors see the miso storehouse?
- Not from the road. On the open day it can be seen from the brewing yard, standing beside the document storehouse. The interior is private.
- Why was it registered?
- It was registered on 26 September 2000 under the criterion of serving as a model of design, for matching the document storehouse in form and for marking, with it, the line between residence and brewery.
Basic Information
| Name | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Miso Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 2179 Higashimachi, Motai, Saku City, Nagano Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered 26 September 2000 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Earthen-wall construction (dozo-zukuri), 2 storeys, tiled roof, floor area 20 square metres (3 by 2 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味噌蔵
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001790
- 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