Aramasa Sake Brewery Myojogura

The Largest Brewhouse on the Site

Aramasa Sake Brewery Myojogura (新政酒造明醸蔵, Myōjōgura) is a single-storey earthen-walled brewhouse of the Meiji period on the grounds of Aramasa Sake Brewery in Omachi, Akita City, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on April 25, 2014. The agency's furigana give the reading myōjō, not meijō, and the name is romanized accordingly.

Aramasa Sake Brewery Myojogura stands west of the Ginjogura with its ridge running east to west, and the Aijogura lies just to its north. With a footprint of 163 square meters it is the largest of the brewery's three brewhouses.

A Roof Frame of Doubled Beams

The building measures 21.6 meters by 7.5 meters under a gabled roof. The Dozo-zukuri walls are finished in white lime plaster with a Hachimaki band at the top, and both gable ends serve as entrances.

What the Agency for Cultural Affairs singles out is the roof frame. Aramasa Sake Brewery Myojogura carries its ridge beam, the Munagi, on a second tier of tie beams set above the first. The agency notes that this doubled-beam truss turns up here and there in the Akita region, which makes the building a record of how local carpenters spanned a 7.5-meter brewhouse.

The roof is covered in steel sheet rather than tile, the only one of the five listed buildings finished this way. When it was reroofed is not recorded.

Dating Aramasa Sake Brewery Myojogura

The national database contradicts itself on the date of Aramasa Sake Brewery Myojogura. The period is given as Meiji and the era year as Meiji 20, which corresponds to 1887, yet the Western-calendar field reads 1945, and Cultural Heritage Online repeats "Meiji / 1945." No source was found to settle the question, so both values are given here.

Its registration number, 05-0201, falls between the Ginjogura (05-0200) and the Aijogura (05-0202), and it was registered for contributing to the historic landscape of the country.

Seeing Aramasa Sake Brewery Myojogura

Aramasa Sake Brewery Myojogura stands inside the working brewery, west of the Ginjogura, and is not open to visitors. The doubled-beam frame is hidden under the roof, so from outside the details to look for are the long 21.6-meter side wall and the metal roof.

Which faces are visible from outside the grounds could not be confirmed. Take photographs only from the public road and keep clear of brewery work and vehicles.