What Is the Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse?
The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse (青梅織物工業協同組合旧発券倉庫, Kyū Hakken Sōko) is a two-story stone warehouse of Ōya stone masonry in Nishiwakecho, Ome City, Tokyo, built around 1932 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property of Japan on November 29, 2016.
The date needs a caveat. The Agency for Cultural Affairs says only that it belongs to the early Showa period, while Ome City's newsletter gives around 1932; both are noted here. The building was renovated in 2000. It covers 159 square meters and stands across the road from the other three buildings, at 127-6 rather than 123.
Why It Was Registered, and What "Receipt-Issuing" Means
The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property in 2016, number 13-0372, for contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. The agency describes it as a stone storehouse for cloth and similar goods whose Oya stone walls keep alive the look of the town in its textile heyday.
The Japanese name, hakken soko, is often mistranslated as a "ticket warehouse." The tickets in question were warehouse receipts. Ome City records that from around 1952 the building operated as a commercial warehouse licensed to issue them. A warehouse receipt is a document a warehouse gives for goods it holds; the owner can sell or pledge the receipt while the goods stay put. For a textile town, it was a way to turn bolts of cloth sitting in storage into credit.
That role also explains the stone. A warehouse responsible for other people's goods had every reason to be fireproof.
What to Look for at the Warehouse
Oya stone and iron-shuttered windows
The walls of the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse are built of Oya stone, a soft volcanic tuff quarried in Tochigi Prefecture; up close you can see the brown flecks scattered through it. The windows have double metal shutters, on the upper floor of the west side and on both floors of the north and south gable ends. Close them and the building becomes a box of stone and iron.
Gable roof and the west doorway
The roof is a Kirizuma-zukuri gable covered in Sangawara-buki pantiles, and the doorway opens on the west. From the north or south, the triangular gable wall and the stacked shuttered windows read as one tidy elevation.
One room on each floor
Inside, each floor is a single undivided room under a trussed roof frame, an open floor well suited to stacking boxes of cloth. Today the ground floor is a dining room and the upper floor a gallery, so visitors can see the trusses from inside.
Visiting the Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse
The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse now houses Mayugura, a dining room and gallery whose name means "cocoon storehouse," and customers can go inside. Mayugura is normally closed on Tuesdays and posts its hours month by month; it sometimes closes early for private bookings, so check its calendar before setting out. The upstairs gallery hosts exhibitions and small concerts (checked October 1, 2026).
The exterior can be seen freely from the road. Mayugura has 2 parking spaces to the left of its entrance and points drivers to the pay-by-the-hour lot next door when they are full. Follow the restaurant's rules on photography indoors. Directions to the whole site are on the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative page.
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Q&A
- What does "receipt-issuing" mean in the Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse?
- From around 1952 the building worked as a commercial warehouse that issued warehouse receipts for the goods it held.
- When was the Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse in Ome built?
- Ome City says around 1932; the Agency for Cultural Affairs says the early Showa period. It was renovated in 2000.
- Can I go inside the Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse?
- Yes, as a customer of Mayugura, the dining room and gallery inside. It is normally closed on Tuesdays and posts its hours monthly.
- What is the Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse built of?
- Oya stone masonry, two stories, under a gable roof of pantiles, with double metal shutters on the windows.
- Where is the Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse?
- At 127-6 Nishiwakecho 3-chome, across the road from the cooperative's other buildings at number 123.
Basic Information
| Name | Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse |
|---|---|
| Location | 127-6 Nishiwakecho 3-chome, Ome City, Tokyo, and other locations |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2016 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Building area 159 square meters, stone, 2 stories |
| Owner | Ome Textile Industry Cooperative |
| Public Access | Operates as Mayugura dining and gallery; customers can enter |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs Database: Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse (in Japanese)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00011274
- Cultural Heritage Online: Former Receipt-Issuing Warehouse (in Japanese)
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/292850
- Koho Ome, January 15, 2017: The Ome Textile Industry Cooperative Buildings (in Japanese)
- https://www.city.ome.tokyo.jp/uploaded/attachment/6820.pdf
- Mayugura: Business Calendar (in Japanese)
- https://mayugura.com/calendar
- Mayugura: Access (in Japanese)
- https://mayugura.com/access
- Mayugura: Gallery (in Japanese)
- https://mayugura.com/gallery
Last verified: 2026.10.01
