A Cellar on the Lane to the Highway
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Unhulled Rice Storehouse (武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅もみ蔵) is an early-Shōwa earthen storehouse belonging to a working sake brewery in Motai, Saku City, Nagano Prefecture, standing south of the old Nakasendō beyond the south storehouse, and listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 26 September 2000. It is a single-storey building of Dozo-zukuri construction under a tiled roof with a floor area of 33 square metres, at 2140-2 Maeda, Motai.
Its eastern gable faces the lane that leads to the old Nakasendō. The ridge runs east to west under a Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles in the set-on (okiyane) form. The plan is four bays by two and a half, about 7 metres by 4.5 metres, and a lean-to on the north side forms a porch in front of the door. The lower wall is finished in batten-held clapboard, like the south storehouse.
Momi is rice still in its husk. Brewing rice is polished before use, but after harvest it keeps far better unhulled. The Takeshige, brewing since 1868, had built the front grain bin in the late Meiji years and the rear grain bin in the Taisho era; this storehouse for unhulled rice followed in the early Shōwa period, on the far side of the road.
Why It Is Listed
The register lists the storehouse under the criterion of contributing to the nation's historic landscape. The Agency's commentary notes that its clapboard base, matching the south storehouse, helps order the streetscape of the lane that runs up to the old Nakasendō. Its contribution is not to the highway itself but to the approach.
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Unhulled Rice Storehouse works with the south storehouse to carry the estate's presence across the road. The south storehouse turns its gable to the highway; this one turns its gable to the lane that reaches it. Two white gables greet the visitor in sequence.
A single storey and 33 square metres are a fair size for a store of raw material. A cellar for unhulled rice needs dryness and ventilation more than volume, and the gap beneath a set-on roof provides them. It is a small building faithful to its purpose, valued as a piece of the scene.
What to Look For
Follow the lane south from the old Nakasendō. The flank of the south storehouse runs along the left, and beyond it a second, smaller white gable faces the lane. That is the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Unhulled Rice Storehouse. The gable faces east and takes the morning light.
Compare the clapboard base with that of the south storehouse. The same horizontal boards held by thin battens give both buildings a dark band beneath the white. Above, the tiles of the set-on roof sit over a thin line of shadow where wall and roof part.
The lean-to porch on the north side is hard to see from the lane. Move from the east gable around toward the north and imagine where the door faces; a small storehouse reveals its plan in that turn of the eye.
Visiting and Getting There
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Unhulled Rice Storehouse stands on the south side of the old Nakasendō beyond the south storehouse, its east gable facing the lane that branches south from the highway, on the left as you walk. Gable and flank can be seen from the lane; the interior is private and the lot should not be entered.
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 Unhulled Rice Storehouse built?
- In the early Shōwa period. The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives early Shōwa without a specific year.
- What was stored in the unhulled rice storehouse?
- Rice still in its husk, which keeps better than polished grain. The building is a single-storey earthen storehouse of 33 square metres with a set-on tiled roof.
- Where is the unhulled rice storehouse?
- South of the old Nakasendō, beyond the south storehouse, at 2140-2 Maeda, Motai, with its east gable facing the lane that leads up to the highway.
- Can the unhulled rice storehouse be seen from the road?
- Yes. Its east gable and flank can be seen on the left of the lane that turns south from the old Nakasendō. The interior is not open.
- Why was it registered?
- It was registered on 26 September 2000 under the criterion of contributing to the nation's historic landscape, for the way its clapboard base, matching the south storehouse, orders the lane leading to the old Nakasendō.
Basic Information
| Name | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence Unhulled Rice Storehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 2140-2 Maeda, 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), single storey, tiled roof, floor area 33 square metres (4 by 2 and a half 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もみ蔵
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001791
- 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