What Is the Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse?
The Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse (石孫本店３号蔵, Ishimago Honten Sangōgura) is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri brewing storehouse built in 1897 in Iwasaki, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 11, 1998. It is the second building from the north in the row of four storehouses facing the road at the Ishimago Honten miso and soy sauce brewery, directly south of the No. 2 Storehouse. It covers 165 square meters under a sheet-metal roof.
It is the oldest of the four on the road. Its Munafuda, or ridge tablet, gives the date and names the master carpenter Saito Hikoemon and the client, the second Ishikawa Magozaemon.
The numbers follow position in the row, not age. The No. 2 Storehouse to its north dates from 1910 and the No. 4 Storehouse to its south from 1900, so the No. 3 Storehouse was up before either neighbor.
A Pressing House, and Why It Was Registered
The Agency for Cultural Affairs identifies the Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse as a seiseiko, the building used for the pressing stage of brewing. In soy sauce making, the aged mash, or moromi, is wrapped in cloth and pressed to separate raw soy sauce from the lees. This is the storehouse where that work happens, a different job from the fermentation storehouses that look the same from outside.
It was registered as a model of good design. The agency notes that it is similar in size to the No. 1 and No. 2 Storehouses but uses a Wagoya roof frame, the traditional Japanese system of short vertical struts standing on horizontal beams.
That difference matters. The same carpenter used the Japanese frame here in 1897 and at the No. 4 Storehouse in 1900, then switched to Western-style trusses with the No. 1 Storehouse of 1904. Yuzawa City values the Ishimago storehouses for recording one carpenter's changing methods across the Meiji and Taisho eras, and the No. 3 Storehouse is where that record starts.
What to Look For
From the road, the No. 2 and No. 3 Storehouses are hard to tell apart. Both cover 165 square meters and share the same outward form. Their roofs are another matter: the Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse has a Japanese frame, the No. 2 Storehouse a truss. Built 13 years apart and standing side by side, they show the carpenter changing his construction while keeping the look.
What you can see outside is how evenly the row is matched. It is fair to read the later storehouses as following the proportions set by this one in 1897. A uniform street front with shifting methods behind it is what makes this group of buildings interesting.
Visiting the No. 3 Storehouse
The exterior of the Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse can be seen from the road in front of the shop. It is the second storehouse from the north in the row of four.
The interior can only be entered, if at all, on the brewery's reserved tour. The tour follows the miso and soy sauce process, but the storehouses it enters are not published, so ask when booking whether the pressing house is included (checked September 24, 2026). Tours are not accepted on some days, depending on the brewing schedule.
Rules on photography inside are not stated. Directions, fees and booking are covered on the Ishimago Honten page.
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Q&A
- When was the Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse built?
- In 1897, according to its ridge tablet. It is the oldest of the four brewing storehouses that face the road.
- What is the Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse used for?
- The Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as the pressing house, used for the stage in which aged mash is pressed.
- How does the Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse differ from the No. 2 Storehouse?
- They look alike and are the same size, but the roof frames differ. The No. 3 Storehouse uses a traditional Japanese frame, the No. 2 Storehouse a Western-style truss.
- Is the Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse numbered in order of construction?
- No. The numbers follow the row. It was built in 1897, before the No. 2 Storehouse (1910) and the No. 4 Storehouse (1900).
- Can I go inside the Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse?
- Only on the reserved tour, and which storehouses it enters is not published, so ask when booking (checked September 24, 2026). The exterior can be seen from the road.
Basic Information
| Name | Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse (石孫本店３号蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 162 Iwasaki, Iwasaki, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building), No. 05-0038 |
| Year Designated | Registered December 11, 1998 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, 2 storeys, sheet-metal roof, building area 165 square meters |
| Owner | Ishimago Honten Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Exterior visible from the road. Interior on reserved tours only (confirm whether this storehouse is included) |
References
- Database of National Cultural Properties: Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00000936
- Ishimago Honten No. 3 Storehouse (Cultural Heritage Online)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/177156
- Ishimago Honten Uchigura and Four Other Buildings (Yuzawa City Cultural Properties)
- https://www.city-yuzawa.jp/site/bunkazai/2215.html
- Tour (Ishimago Honten)
- https://ishimago.jp/tour/
Last verified: 2026.09.24
