A Rice Merchant's Shop Built in Fireproof Earth
The Former Kurokawa Rice Store (旧黒川米穀店店舗, Kyū Kurokawa Beikokuten Tenpo) is a 2-storey merchant shop built in Dozo-zukuri earthen-wall construction in Nishinomiyacho, Oaza Yuki, in Yuki City, Ibaraki Prefecture, completed in 1912 and entered on the national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 18 October 2006, under register number 08-0219.
The man who built it was a rice dealer named Kurokawa Sakichi. An ink inscription on the ridge beam fixes the year of construction at 1912, the 45th and final year of the Meiji era, and a street directory of the town of Yuki published the following year, in 1913, lists him as a dealer in rice and miscellaneous grain. Few buildings of this size can be dated and attributed so exactly.
The shop measures 7 Ken along the ridge by 4 across, with a floor area of 93 square metres. The Kirizuma-zukuri gabled roof is laid in Sangawara-buki pantiles, and the building presents its gable end to the road along the southern edge of the plot, an arrangement called Tsumairi. The southern half of the ground floor is an earth-floored Doma with a 6-mat room behind it. Upstairs are 2 formal Zashiki rooms of 10 mats each. Shopfront and living quarters are stacked into a single structure, which is the standard logic of a Yuki misegura, or shop-storehouse.
Why the Building Is Registered
The Former Kurokawa Rice Store was registered under the criterion for buildings that contribute to the historic character of the landscape. Yuki's old quarter still holds a large number of earthen-walled merchant shops put up between the early Meiji and the Taishō years, and more than a dozen of them now carry national registration. Among that group this one is unusually large and unusually complicated in plan.
Yuki was the seat of the Yūki clan from the Kamakura period and later grew wealthy as the trading centre for Yuki-tsumugi, a hand-woven pongee silk. The wholesalers who lined these streets dealt in cloth. That a grain merchant could raise a shop on this scale among them says something about how broad the town's commerce had become by the end of the Meiji era, and the Former Kurokawa Rice Store is the clearest surviving evidence of it.
According to Yuki City, the ground floor has seen partial additions and alterations inside and out, and the whole building was shifted slightly back from the road by Hikiya during repair work. Beyond that it remains close to its original condition, which is why a shopfront from the last year of Meiji can still be read whole.
What to Look at from the Street
Look up first. The ridge is built up high and capped at each end by outsized Onigawara ridge-end tiles, so the top third of the elevation carries most of the visual weight. Part of the roof drops to a lower ridge behind the main one, giving 2 ridges at different heights instead of a single unbroken gable. That step is what keeps the silhouette from going flat.
Bring your eyes down and the ground floor opens almost completely. Only a wing wall 1 ken wide on the left and another 4 shaku on the right interrupt it; the rest is filled with glass doors and boarded doors. A building made to resist fire has been opened up wherever a shop needs to be open, and the compromise is visible in a single glance. Along the south and west faces a Geya pent roof projects a little over 4 shaku, about 1.2 metres, deep enough to walk under in rain.
The upper floor has a long horizontal window at the centre with half-ken shutter boxes to either side. Its eaves are carried on a projecting purlin and finished with a cornice moulded in 3 tiers, so from a distance 3 horizontal lines run the width of the facade. Morning sun on a clear day throws the sharpest shadow into those mouldings.
Visiting the Former Kurokawa Rice Store
The building is privately owned. Yuki City's tourism pages describe it as being used as a farm produce shop under the name Akuto no Sato, so when the shop is trading it is possible to step into the old ground-floor retail space. The city states plainly that its walking route is offered for the sake of the streetscape and does not guarantee access to any interior. Uses and trading days change, so anyone hoping to get inside should check with the Yuki City commerce and tourism section beforehand.
The exterior can be seen from the road at any hour. There is no admission charge and no opening hours attached to the building itself. Photograph it from the public road, remembering that this is someone's home and place of business.
Access is straightforward. Take the JR Mito Line to Yuki Station, leave by the north exit and walk north into the old quarter for about 10 minutes. The city's misegura walking route starts and ends at the north exit, runs about 3.5 kilometres and takes roughly an hour, and the Former Kurokawa Rice Store sits on it. Rental bicycles are available at the station if you would rather shorten the distances between buildings.
Other registered properties follow along the same route, including the Yuki Shuzō sake brewery and the Okujun shop-storehouses. Walking the street and comparing this shop against its neighbours makes its scale legible in a way that a single stop cannot.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Ibaraki
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Former Kurokawa Rice Store
- [ Hitachi Seaside Park Nemophila Flower Tours ]
Q&A
- Can you visit the Former Kurokawa Rice Store, and can you go inside?
- The exterior can be viewed freely from the street. Yuki City describes the building as being used as a farm produce shop called Akuto no Sato, but interior access is not guaranteed. There is no admission fee or fixed opening time, so check ahead if you want to see inside.
- Where is the Former Kurokawa Rice Store and can you walk there from Yuki Station?
- It stands at 1319-2 Nishinomiyacho, Oaza Yuki, Yuki City. From the north exit of Yuki Station on the JR Mito Line it is about a 10 minute walk north into the old quarter, and it lies on the city's misegura walking route.
- Who built the Former Kurokawa Rice Store and when?
- A rice dealer named Kurokawa Sakichi built it in 1912. The date comes from an ink inscription on the ridge beam. A street directory of Yuki published in 1913 records him as a dealer in rice and miscellaneous grain.
- Why is the Former Kurokawa Rice Store a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was registered on 18 October 2006 as a building contributing to the historic character of the landscape. It is one of the largest of Yuki's surviving earthen-walled merchant shops, and its late Meiji shopfront survives largely intact.
- What should visitors look for at the Former Kurokawa Rice Store?
- The high built-up ridge and its large end tiles, the stepped profile made by 2 ridges at different heights, the cornice moulded in 3 tiers under the upper eaves, and the ground floor that opens almost end to end apart from its wing walls. The pent roof wrapping the south and west faces is worth a look too.
Basic Information
| Name | Former Kurokawa Rice Store |
|---|---|
| Location | 1319-2 Nishinomiyacho, Oaza Yuki, Yuki City, Ibaraki Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) |
| Year Designated | Registered on 18 October 2006 (Heisei 18) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | 2-storey dozo-zukuri structure, floor area 93 square metres, 7 ken by 4 ken |
| Owner | Private individual (as published by the Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education) |
| Public Access | Exterior viewable from the street. Interior access not guaranteed |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, National Cultural Properties Database: Former Kurokawa Rice Store
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00005732
- Ibaraki Prefectural Board of Education, Cultural Properties of Ibaraki: Former Kurokawa Rice Store
- https://kyoiku.pref.ibaraki.jp/bunkazai/bunkazai-registered-6115/
- Yuki City: Registered Tangible Cultural Property, Former Kurokawa Rice Store
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kosodate-kyouiku/shougaigakushuu/bunkazai/bunkazai/tourokuyuukei/page003232.html
- Yuki City: list of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kosodate-kyouiku/shougaigakushuu/bunkazai/bunkazai/tourokuyuukei/page003226.html
- Yuki City: misegura walking route
- https://www.city.yuki.lg.jp/kankou/kankou-model/page000209.html
Last verified: 2026.09.08