The Merchant House on the Old Road
The Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House (田中酒造場主屋, Tanaka Shuzōjō Shuoku) is a brewer's family house built around 1885 on the old Inaba Kaidō post town of Ōhara-juku in Furumachi, Mimasaka City, Okayama Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 27, 2017.
It is a large two-storey timber townhouse under a gabled Kirizuma-zukuri roof of pantiles (Sangawara-buki), with a building area of 242 square meters. Facing the old road near the middle of the town, it is the only one of the brewery's five registered buildings that served both as home and as place of business.
Inside, the plan splits in two. An earth-floored passage (doma) runs through the northern part, with the shop room (mise) opening off it. South of the doma lies the raised living section: nine rooms in three rows of three, including a formal entrance with a shikidai, a low boarded step for receiving guests of rank. Trade at the front, family and visitors to the side was the standard arrangement for a merchant house on a highway.
Why It Was Registered
The Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House was registered on the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out its carefully detailed walls and its role in keeping the look of the old road intact.
The walls do most of the work. The upper storey is finished in white Shikkui plaster, and below it runs a band of Namako-kabe: flat tiles set in a lattice, their joints built up in rounded ridges of plaster. The white field above and the tiled grid below form a clean horizontal stripe just above eye level for anyone walking the street.
The shikidai entrance matters too. Ordinary shops rarely had one; it was a mark of a household expected to receive officials and people of standing. The floor plan, in other words, records where a post-town brewer stood in local society.
What to Look For
Start from across the road and take in the whole front: a wide two-storey face under a single gabled tile roof, white plaster above and tile grid below. Knowing that the doma and shop sit to the north and the tatami rooms to the south makes it easier to picture how the house was used behind that front.
Then look north. Next door stands the Taishō-era (1912–1926) shop storehouse, its ridge set parallel to the main house, its door tucked into the narrow gap between the two. Compare the heights of the two bands of namako-kabe and you can see how buildings put up decades apart were made to read as one frontage.
Light changes the walls. The raised plaster joints show best in the raking sun of early morning or late afternoon, when each ridge throws a short shadow; at midday, with light falling flat on the facade, the grid almost disappears.
Visiting the Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House
The exterior of the Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House can be viewed freely from the old road. The building is part of a working brewery and a private home, and the interior is not open to the public.
The brewery shop is at its entrance on the old road, so buying a bottle is the one ordinary reason to step up to the front. Brewery tours are by reservation only and have been suspended at times, so contact the brewery before counting on seeing any interior.
No published photography rules turned up. Photographing the facade from the street is part of ordinary townscape photography, but avoid pointing a camera through the entrance or windows into the rooms.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Okayama
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House
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Q&A
- When was the Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House built?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs dates it to around 1885. It was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on October 27, 2017.
- Can you go inside the Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House?
- No, the interior is not open to the public. The brewery has taken reservations for small-group tours of up to about 10 people, but tours are sometimes suspended, so check with the brewery first.
- Where is the best place to see the Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House?
- Stand on the opposite side of the old road. From there you can see the whole front, the white plaster and namako-kabe tile walls, and the shop storehouse next door in one view.
- Why was the Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House registered?
- It was registered for contributing to the historic landscape. Its white plaster upper walls and namako-kabe tile band help define the streetscape of the old Ohara post town.
- What is unusual about the layout of the Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House?
- A shop room opens off an earth-floored passage on the north side, and nine rooms in three rows of three, including a formal shikidai entrance, fill the south side. It combines a place of trade with a place for receiving guests of rank.
Basic Information
| Name | Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House |
|---|---|
| Location | 1655 Yashiki, Furumachi, Mimasaka City, Okayama Prefecture, and other lots |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2017/10/27 (Heisei 29) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 2-storey timber building, gabled pantile roof, building area 242 square meters |
| Owner | Not listed in the Agency for Cultural Affairs database (part of the Tanaka Sake Brewery works) |
| Public Access | Exterior visible from the old road; interior not open to the public |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties (Agency for Cultural Affairs): Tanaka Sake Brewery Main House
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00012033
- Tanaka Sake Brewery: company profile, tours and access
- https://www.musashinosato.com/06_company.html
Last verified: 2026.09.24
