Banjo Brewery Outer Well

What the Banjo Brewery Outer Well Is

The Banjo Brewery Outer Well (萬乗醸造外井戸, Banjō Jōzō Soto-ido) is a group of early Meiji wells in Otakacho, Midori Ward, Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on 31 July 2007 under registration number 23-0245. It occupies a detached plot south of the brewery site, along the road that runs past the east wall of the storehouse.

There are 6 shafts. The 5 on the north side are 1.5 meters across and 5 meters deep; the single shaft to the south is 2.5 meters across and 8 meters deep. Four of the curbs are concrete and two are Tokoname stoneware. The Agency for Cultural Affairs records one unit of 4.9 square meters and 5 units of 1.8 square meters, and counts the Insū, the registered quantity, as one place. The wells were sunk in the early Meiji years and added to in the early Showa years.

The word outer refers to the brewery grounds. Where the inner well stands near the south wall of the original storehouse, the Banjo Brewery Outer Well lies on a separate block across the road. When the wells inside the walls could no longer supply enough mashing water, the source was sought outside them.

Why It Was Registered

The Banjo Brewery Outer Well was registered under the criterion of contributing to the historic landscape of the nation. Twelve structures at the brewery were registered together on 31 July 2007, and two of them, this well group and the inner well, are constructed works rather than buildings.

Set side by side, the two record how the operation expanded. The inner well dates from the founding period, between 1751 and 1829. The Banjo Brewery Outer Well was sunk in the early Meiji years, between 1868 and 1911, and shafts were added in the early Showa years. The staged securing of water survives as dates and numbers of shafts.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs treats the Banjo Brewery Outer Well as evidence of the growth of the brewery. The new storehouse was built in the same period, so production capacity and water supply were enlarged together.

What to Look For

Two materials were used for the curbs, and that is the most telling feature of the Banjo Brewery Outer Well. Four of the six are concrete and two are Tokoname stoneware. Tokoname, on the Chita Peninsula in the same prefecture, has fired large jars and vessels since medieval times. The technique behind its pipes and well curbs was carried straight into brewing equipment.

The concrete curbs are presumably the later layer. Different materials standing in one place turn a difference of date into something visible. The record of an early Meiji start with early Showa additions matches what the materials show.

Two sizes are also present. The 5 northern shafts hold to one standard at 1.5 meters across and 5 meters deep. The single southern shaft is larger, 2.5 meters across and 8 meters deep, the same dimensions as the inner well inside the brewery grounds, which suggests the two were sunk on a shared idea of what a main shaft should be.

The Banjo Brewery Outer Well stands on private land and is not open. The commentaries and photographs published by the Agency for Cultural Affairs and the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education are the sources available for its contents.

Visiting

The Banjo Brewery Outer Well occupies a detached plot owned by the brewery and is not open. The plot cannot be entered. The company states on the FAQ page of its official site that it does not sell sake at the brewery, so there is no shop or visitor reception.

Photographing the Banjo Brewery Outer Well is not possible. The surrounding area is a residential slope where people live, and pointing a camera onto private land is not welcome. No scheduled special opening could be confirmed in the published information of the Agency for Cultural Affairs or the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education.

The location lies within about 15 minutes on foot of Odaka Station on the JR Tokaido Main Line. Enter the old quarter from the station and follow the left bank of the Otaka River westward into the brewing street; the Banjo Brewery Outer Well is south of the road that passes the east wall of the storehouse. Midori Ward publishes a 5.7 kilometre walking route, the Odaka Castle Town Course, which covers this part of the town.