A Cellar That Carries Its Own Date
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence No. 4 Storehouse (武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅四号蔵) is a fermentation cellar of 1917 belonging to 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 earthen-wall construction under a tiled roof, covering 185 square metres, and it is owned by Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery Co., Ltd.
It stands north of the No. 2 Storehouse, directly behind it, with the ridge running east to west under a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. At twelve and a half bays by four and a half, roughly 23 metres by 8 metres, it is the longest of the three great cellars. Like the No. 1 and No. 2 cellars, it shares a stair hall with its neighbour, fitted into the gap between it and the No. 2 cellar.
Its date is not an estimate. An ink inscription on the underside of the ridge beam records that the frame was raised on 30 April 1917. Founded in 1868 by the twelfth head of the family, Takeshige Tokuzaemon, the brewery had grown in half a century to need a third large fermentation cellar.
Why It Is Listed
The register lists the cellar under the criterion of serving as a model of design. The No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 cellars stand in a row running north, each linked to the next by a stair hall, and that row preserves the brewery's growth in stages as a sequence of buildings. The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence No. 4 Storehouse is the newest and last of them.
A raising date fixed by ink on the beam makes the building a valuable document. Most of the estate's structures carry broad estimated dates, late Edo or mid-Meiji; the No. 4 cellar is a fixed point against which the others can be read.
Sake is still made here. Since its founding the house has kept to the kimoto method, drawing the cellar's own lactic bacteria into the yeast starter, and it brews with soft groundwater from Mount Tateshina. The brewery says the thick earthen walls hold the interior below 22 degrees Celsius even in summer, so that the sake matures inside a cultural property.
What to Look For
The No. 4 cellar is at the far end of the estate and cannot be seen from the road. Enter the brewing yard on the open day and the long gabled cellar north of the No. 1 and No. 2 cellars is the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence No. 4 Storehouse. Twelve and a half bays is the longest of the three, and the line of the roof running east to west shows it.
If you are allowed inside, look up and find the ridge beam. The inscription is on its underside and may not be legible from where visitors stand; but a ceiling you look at knowing that a beam overhead is dated 30 April 1917 is not an ordinary ceiling.
The stair hall between this cellar and the No. 2 cellar connects their upper floors, where koji and yeast starters are handled and the brewers climb up and down every day. Locate the stair on the open day and the three cellars begin to make sense as one working factory.
Visiting and Getting There
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence No. 4 Storehouse stands at the northern end of the estate behind the No. 2 cellar and is invisible from the old Nakasendō. The interior can be seen only on the open day around the spring equinox or during a reservation-only tasting that includes a tour; on the open day visitors walk through the working cellars and taste the kimoto sake.
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.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Nagano
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence No. 4 Storehouse
- [ Matsumoto Castle & Kamikochi Hiking Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence No. 4 Storehouse built?
- In 1917 (Taisho 6). An ink inscription on the underside of the ridge beam records that the frame was raised on 30 April 1917.
- How large is the No. 4 storehouse?
- Twelve and a half bays by four and a half, with a floor area of 185 square metres, a two-storey earthen cellar and the third of the brewery's large fermentation cellars after No. 1 and No. 2.
- Is the No. 4 storehouse still in use?
- Yes. It is an active fermentation cellar where the brewery's kimoto-method sake is made. The owner is Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery Co., Ltd.
- Can visitors see the No. 4 storehouse?
- Not normally. It opens on the brewery's annual open day around the spring equinox, with cellar tours and tastings, and occasionally during reservation-only tastings.
- Why was it registered?
- It was registered on 26 September 2000 with 29 other structures of the estate under the criterion of serving as a model of design, as a large fermentation cellar whose raising date is fixed by an ink inscription.
Basic Information
| Name | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence No. 4 Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 2179 Higashimachi and adjacent lots, 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 185 square metres (12 and a half by 4 and a half bays) |
| Owner | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery Co., Ltd. |
| 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四号蔵
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001802
- 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