Yokote Masuda Traditional Buildings Preservation District

Yokote Masuda Traditional Buildings Preservation District (横手市増田伝統的建造物群保存地区) is the national Important Preservation District for a group of traditional buildings located in Masuda, Yokote City, Akita Prefecture. Yokote City issued its urban‑planning preservation decision on July 1, 2013, and the district was selected by the national government on December 27, 2013. The chosen area runs roughly 420 m north–south by 350 m east–west, centred on Prefectural Route 108 (the locally nicknamed “Kurassic Road”), and covers about 10.6 hectares.

Who looks after the streetscape and who uses it today

Most of the houses that are open to the public remain privately owned and continue to function as residences or as operating shops; openings for visitors depend on the cooperation and goodwill of those owners. Yokote City opened the Masuda Tourism and Local Products Center, known as Kura no Eki, in 2009; that centre is city‑owned and sits within the preserved area. The district’s urban‑planning decision (July 1, 2013) and the national selection later that year formalised local efforts that had intensified in the 2000s to present the townscape as a community resource.

What the designation covers (scope and catalogued items)

The preservation district was designated to protect a coherent merchant‑townscape and its historic town layout. The selection area is defined as parts of Masuda’s Honmachi, Tamachi, Nakamachi and Nanokamachi sectors. As of the national selection on December 27, 2013 the catalogue listed 143 specified items: 119 traditional buildings, nine works (structural items), and 13 environmental objects. Cultural‑property listings associated with the wider Masuda area include two entries counted as five structures designated as National Important Cultural Properties, 16 registered tangible cultural properties comprising 34 structures (one of those registered properties lies outside the present district), and seven Yokote City‑designated properties comprising 11 structures (one of those lies outside the district).

Why Masuda was selected: town plan and the uchigura

Masuda’s selection emphasised two linked points: the town retains its Edo‑to‑modern town division and street layout, and it preserves a regional building type centred on the uchigura — a sheath‑type earthen storehouse attached behind the main house. Masuda prospered as a local distribution hub from the early modern period; a cartographic record from Genroku 16 (1703) already shows the town’s street pattern, and the town’s weekday and market functions date back further (the traditional morning market began in 1643). The district is notable within Tōhoku for preserving a merchant street character, and the national selection was especially noteworthy because it credited the internal structure of the uchigura — a feature invisible from facades — when evaluating the townscape.

Typical lot plans and architectural features you will see

Parcels in Masuda were cut as long, narrow strips: typical frontage is about 5–7 ken while depth reaches 50–70 ken, producing elongated, strip‑shaped lots. Most properties place the main house facing the street, a connected sheath‑type earthen storehouse (the uchigura) behind it and then a garden; some gardens contain an independent outer storehouse. Where lots back onto a rear lane, gates and board fences create distinct faces for the street front, side alleys and the rear.

Main houses are commonly two‑storey, gable‑roofed buildings with the gable end facing the street. Decorative elements are frequent: exposed decorative beams and visible brackets that recall temple joinery (bracket blocks and carved beam ends), small eaves over second‑floor windows (kiriyoke), ornate rafter tails and layered eave details such as futanoki. On the gable side the eaves are unusually deep — about one ken — while overall eave overhang is very short (roughly one to two shaku), a form developed in this heavy‑snow region.

The uchigura themselves are richly finished. Walls are often polished black lacquered plaster, doors are framed with lacquered wooden surrounds (saya‑kazari), and folding or accordion door assemblies can run to five stages. The structural frame of the storehouses makes frequent use of high‑grade timbers — keyaki (zelkova), chestnut and pine — with thick, closely spaced through‑posts; beams range from traditional piled‑beam joinery to later truss‑style solutions, so comparisons of construction technique across buildings reveal changes in craft practice. Uchigura were built for two principal uses: document/commodity storage (bunkogura) and as private/zashiki rooms (zashikigura); zashikigura is the more common type, and conversions from bunkogura to zashikigura occur.

Only a handful of storehouses are visible from the main street; most are concealed behind apparently modest shopfronts and domestic facades. That concealment — modest exteriors shielding highly finished, often lavish interiors — is a defining quality of the Masuda townscape.

Notable open buildings and cultural properties

A number of individual properties are publicly accessible. Examples listed in the district’s public catalogue include the Masuda Tourism and Local Products Center “Kura no Eki” (formerly a hardware shop), the former Ishida Rikichi house (a Yokote City‑designated cultural property), the Sato family residence (designated a National Important Cultural Property), and the Sato Yosuke store lacquer‑kura museum (a Registered Tangible Cultural Property). Several registered tangible cultural properties and city‑designated houses, shops and breweries are part of the visitor inventory; a subset of those open to the public require prior reservation. In total, 19 buildings are opened for viewing, three of which are available only by prior reservation.

History in brief: origins to modern reuse

Local tradition traces Masuda’s origin to a castle built by the Ogasawara clan during the Teiji years; the castle itself was dismantled in the Genna years, but the settlement continued as a local market and transport node where two regional roads crossed. The morning market began in 1643 and survives to the present as an enduring element of town life. In the Meiji period Masuda expanded as a collection and distribution point for silk and tobacco and as a sake‑producing area. A local bank was established in 1895 (Meiji 28), and from the late 19th to early 20th century many of the uchigura visible today were constructed (most pre‑war, concentrated in the Meiji–Taishō eras). Recognition of the uchigura as a regional asset emerged only in the 2000s: a lacquer‑kura museum opened in 2001; the registration of breweries and a 2005 photo book helped initiate the community‑wide “Kura no Hi” special openings from 2006; the Kura no Eki centre opened in 2009; and the municipal and national preservation steps followed in 2013.

Events, calendar nodes and nearby facilities

Masuda’s morning market traces to 1643 and is held on calendar days containing 2, 5 and 9 each month. The Kura no Hi event, a coordinated public opening of uchigura houses, has been held in October since 2006. Local festivals include Masuda Bon Odori on August 16, and Masuda fireworks on September 14 (the fireworks reached their 90th occurrence in 2014). Other community events recorded for the area are the tarai‑kogi (tub‑boat) races in Makoto Park on April 29 and August 16, and the Sansho Shrine Bonten festival in mid‑February. Nearby public facilities include the Yokote Masuda Manga Museum, the Masuda branch of Yokote City Hall, Masuda Elementary School, the former Masuda police station (now a branch), and Makoto Park, which appears on Japan’s list of 100 famous cherry blossom sites.

Access

The district is served from Jūmonji Station on the Ōu Main Line. From Jūmonji Station, take a Ugo Kotsu bus for about 10 minutes and alight at the Masuda Nakamachi stop. In 2013 Jūmonji Station was renovated for a destination campaign; the station’s waiting‑room entrance was remodelled in the style of a kura entrance.

FAQ

What official status does the district have?

It was selected as a national Important Preservation District for a Group of Traditional Buildings on December 27, 2013.

How large is the designated area?

The preservation district covers approximately 10.6 hectares and spans about 420 m north–south by 350 m east–west.

How many specified traditional items does the district include?

As of December 27, 2013 there were 143 specified items: 119 traditional buildings, nine works and 13 environmental items.

How do you reach the district by public transport?

From Jūmonji Station on the Ōu Main Line, take a Ugo Kotsu bus for about 10 minutes and alight at the Masuda Nakamachi stop.