A Long White Wall Along the Road
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence West Storehouse (武重本家酒造及び武重家住宅西蔵) is a late-Edo earthen storehouse 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 single-storey building of Dozo-zukuri construction under a tiled roof, with a floor area of 158 square metres, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to the late Edo period, between 1751 and 1829.
It stands west of the shop on a terrace a step above the road. The plan is long and narrow, eleven bays by four, roughly 20 metres by 7 metres, under an east-west Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles. Toward the eastern end are three vault rooms, each closed by a heavy storehouse door; toward the west, at the centre, a doorway opens to the rear garden.
The Takeshige family began brewing in 1868, so a late-Edo building was already standing on the estate before there was any sake. Motai was a rest stop, an ai-no-shuku, between the Nakasendō post towns of Mochizuki and Ashida, and the Takeshige had settled there early in the Edo period.
Why It Is Listed
The register lists the storehouse under the criterion of contributing to the nation's historic landscape, describing it, with the east storehouse, the gate house and the shop, as one of the elements that make up the streetscape of the old Nakasendō. Motai's road is known for its run of white walls and tiled roofs, and this building supplies one of the longest stretches of that white.
Because it sits on raised ground, the wall appears from the road as a white plane rising from a base of stacked stone. The road side is the back of the building and has few openings. The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence West Storehouse matters less for what it holds than for the long, blank face it presents to the street.
Inside the estate it is also a junction. The family's Taisho-era retirement quarters are linked to the main house by a stepped corridor that runs through this storehouse, so the wall that shapes the street also carries the household on its way to the back of the property.
What to Look For
Walk west along the old Nakasendō from the shop front. The road climbs gently and a raised stone base appears on the right, with a white wall running along the top of it: this is the Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence West Storehouse. Eleven bays is a length best measured on foot. The absence of doors along the road face says a good deal about the building's role.
The three vault doors toward the eastern end face inward and cannot be seen from the street. What you see instead is the tiled eave, the wall and the way it meets the ground above the stone base. Where the open water channel runs alongside the road, the white wall is doubled in the water.
Continue to the corner where the stone wall of the retirement quarters begins and you can work out where the western end of the storehouse meets that plot. That is the line of the stepped corridor from the main house, where cellar and passage become one.
Visiting and Getting There
The Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence West Storehouse faces the old Nakasendō, and its white wall can be viewed from the road all the way from the shop to the stone wall of the retirement quarters. The vault doors face into the estate and are not visible; entry to the grounds is limited to the open day.
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 West Storehouse built?
- In the late Edo period. The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to between 1751 and 1829, which makes it older than the brewery, founded in 1868.
- How large is the west storehouse?
- It is a single-storey earthen storehouse eleven bays long and four deep, with a floor area of 158 square metres. Three vault rooms are grouped toward the east end and a doorway to the rear garden opens near the centre of the west end.
- Can the west storehouse be seen from the road?
- Yes. It stands on a raised terrace west of the shop and its white wall runs along the old Nakasendō. The vault doors face inward and cannot be seen from the street.
- Is the west storehouse connected to other buildings?
- Yes. A stepped corridor from the main house passes through the storehouse to reach the Taisho-era retirement quarters, so it forms part of the household's circulation.
- Why was it registered?
- It was registered on 26 September 2000 under the criterion of contributing to the nation's historic landscape, as one of the buildings that, with the east storehouse, gate house and shop, create the streetscape of the old Nakasendō.
Basic Information
| Name | Takeshige Honke Sake Brewery and Takeshige Family Residence West 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), single storey, tiled roof, floor area 158 square metres (11 by 4 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西蔵
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00001787
- 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