Northwest Hokkaido · MashikeNo.733★★Open in map →
Mashike Old Merchant Houses
A block of Meiji merchant buildings standing in front of a station where the trains stopped for good. One of them, the Homma merchant house, is a nationally designated Important Cultural Property. The whole row is listed as Hokkaido Heritage.
- FromSapporo Station
- ~2 hr 20 minEngan Bus, four days a week
- Get off atMashike Old Station (Engan Bus)
- On foot
- Mashike Old Merchant Houses
The sweet spot
This is not an undiscovered place — it carries a national designation and a heritage listing. It is quiet because it is hard to reach. The railway is gone, and the direct bus from Sapporo makes a single round trip on four days of the week.
Where it is
102 more notes in Hokkaido · open the map →What to look for — in walking order
- Mashike Old Stationthe terminus of a closed line, kept as a visitor building at the head of the row
- The station-front streetwooden shops and inns in a single line, the block named in the Hokkaido Heritage listing
- Homma Merchant Houseshop front and living wing, nationally designated and open to visitors in season
- Kunimare Sake Brewerya working brewery in dark timber, open to the public and listed as Hokkaido Heritage
- Motojinyathe town's local-history rooms, on the Akita clan outpost that once guarded this coast
How to actually get there
- Sapporo Station stop #32 → Mashike Old Station (Engan Bus 'Mashike-go' express, about 2 hr 20 min, four days a week).
- Mashike Old Station stop → the station building and the street in front of it (a minute on foot).
- Walk west along the row: Homma Merchant House → Kunimare brewery → Motojinya.
- Engan Bus express from Sapporo Station
- Sapporo Station bus stop #32 → Engan Bus 'Mashike-go' express → Mashike Old Station. About 2 hr 20 min with no change. At the time of checking the service ran only on Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, one round trip a day, leaving Sapporo in the late afternoon. Read the operator's timetable before you plan the day.
- One return service a day
- The Sapporo-bound bus also runs once a day on the same four days, so the return is a fixed decision rather than a flexible one. Note the departure at the stop when you arrive. If National Route 231 or another trunk road is closed, the operator suspends the whole route.
About the place
Mashike sits on the Sea of Japan coast north-west of Sapporo, reached now only by road along the shore. Herring money built the town, and the buildings in front of the station are what that money left standing. The Homma merchant house presents a shop front to the street with the family's living quarters behind it. A few minutes along the same street is Kunimare, listed as Hokkaido Heritage and known as the northernmost sake brewery in Japan. The Rumoi Main Line that once ended at Mashike has been closed in full, yet the bus stop still carries the station's name.
How to enjoy it
Get off at the stop still called Mashike Old Station, start with the station building itself, then walk the street west. The Homma house opens at 10:00 and closes at 17:00, so arriving before noon leaves time for the brewery and Motojinya in the same walk. In winter the interiors are shut and the row becomes an exterior walk — snow on the roofs is its own reason to come, but plan it short.
Background & history
The Homma house was completed in 1902, at the height of the herring boom that made this stretch of coast rich. Kunimare had already started brewing in 1882, drawing on water from the mountains behind the town. When the herring stopped coming the money left, and the buildings simply stayed. Hokkaido later listed the station-front row together with the old Mashike elementary school as a single piece of heritage.
Before you go
- Cash
- Admission to the Homma house was 400 yen for adults at the time of checking, with lower rates for students. Engan Bus prints two fare columns, cash and a cashless discount, so payment on board is not cash-only.
- Before you go
- The Homma house closes for the winter. At the time of checking it opened from late April to early November and was shut on Thursdays outside July and August. Motojinya keeps its own hours. In winter the row becomes an exterior walk, and heavy snow on National Route 231 can suspend the bus.
- Another way
- From Rumoi, an Engan Bus local route reaches Mashike in about 30 minutes. By car it is about 30 minutes from the Rumoi interchange on National Routes 233 and 231, or about two hours from Sapporo on National Route 231 along the coast.
- After you get off
- The stop sits in front of the old station building. Cross the street and walk north-west along the same row for about a minute to reach the Homma merchant house.