Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop

What the Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop Is

The Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop (萬乗醸造旧仕込蔵及び樽修理場, Banjō Jōzō Kyū Shikomigura oyobi Taru Shūriba) is a late Edo-period two-storey plastered storehouse in Otakacho, Midori Ward, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on 31 July 2007 under registration number 23-0244. It runs north to south on a separate plot across the road that follows the east wall of the brewery storehouse.

The building measures 8 Ken along the ridge and 3 ken across, with a Kirizuma-zukuri roof of Sangawara-buki pantiles over two storeys and a floor area of 108 square meters. A lean-to 1.5 ken wide runs the full length of the west side facing the road. Two doorways open, one toward the west end of the south wall and one toward the north end of the west wall. Construction is dated between 1751 and 1829.

The name records two uses. A barrel repair shop is where the wooden casks used to ship sake were maintained. Sake from the Chita region travelled to Edo by cargo boat during the Tokugawa period, and casks were stock to be used again and again. The Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop served that cycle of shipping and reuse.

Why It Was Registered

The Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. It closes the eastern end of Shinmachi-dori and catches the view of anyone walking the street.

Twelve structures at the brewery were registered together on 31 July 2007. Two of them stand on a different block: this building and the outer well. Between them they show that the brewing operation spread across the road rather than staying within one enclosure.

Nagoya's Midori Ward records a brewing licence entry of 200 koku for Otaka village and shipment by cargo boat as far as Edo. The Aichi Prefectural Board of Education notes that shipments of Chita sake to Edo grew heavy in the second half of the 18th century. The estimated date of the Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop falls in that period.

What to Look For

Walking east along Shinmachi-dori brings the wall of the Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop across the end of the view. The street turns here. A long straight run of road terminates on the face of a building, and the way the blocks were laid out becomes a visual effect.

The lean-to along the west side repays attention. A single-pitch roof 1.5 ken wide projects in front of the wall, creating a half-open space beneath it. Moving casks in and out and repairing them calls for somewhere sheltered from rain and open to air, and the lean-to answers that need.

The doorways are placed off centre. The entrances to the Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop sit toward the west end of the south wall and the north end of the west wall, positions that follow the internal post layout and the movement of work rather than symmetry.

The brewery storehouse stands on the west side of the same road. Dark walls close in from both sides, and this corner shows the relation between road width and wall height more plainly than anywhere else in the old quarter of Odaka.

Visiting

The Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop belongs to the brewery. The interior is closed and the grounds cannot be entered. It does, however, face the end of Shinmachi-dori, so the exterior can be seen squarely from the public road. Among the twelve registered structures it is one of the easier ones to see.

Photography from the public road is not restricted. Looking east from the western part of the street gives the full west elevation including the lean-to. Avoid photographing into the premises or at people at work. The company states on the FAQ page of its official site that it does not sell sake at the brewery.

Odaka Station on the JR Tokaido Main Line is about 15 minutes away on foot. Enter the old quarter from the station and follow the left bank of the Otaka River westward. Because the Banjo Brewery Former Brewing Storehouse and Barrel Repair Shop marks the eastern end of the brewing street, it is the first registered structure a visitor arriving from the station meets. Midori Ward publishes a 5.7 kilometre walking route, the Odaka Castle Town Course, which takes in this street.