Morikyu Shoten Factory

A Wide Workroom Behind the House

The Morikyu Shoten Factory (森九商店工場) is a brewer's factory building of 1913 in Araya Omotemachi, Akita City, Akita Prefecture, and was registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property (structure) on August 3, 2006 (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

The Agency records a single-storey timber building roofed in sheet steel, with a building area of 134 square metres; registration number 05-0144.

A Workroom Without Posts

The Morikyu Shoten Factory adjoins the main house on its east side (Agency for Cultural Affairs). It is a single-storey timber building 8 bays by 5, with a gabled roof in sheet steel and walls clad in iron sheet.

Its roof frame is a traditional Japanese Wagoya, but heavy beams span the full width of the building, leaving a wide interior with no posts in the way (Agency for Cultural Affairs). The span of 5 bays matches that of the main house, so the Morikyu Shoten Factory carries the depth of the house on toward the east, with the brewing storehouse beyond.

Why It Was Registered

The Agency describes the Morikyu Shoten Factory as a large workshop continuing from the main house that gives the site the look of a working brewery, and registered it for its contribution to the historic landscape. Because the workroom survives along with the townhouse at the front, the premises still read as a brewer's establishment rather than a house alone.

What to Look For

The heart of the Morikyu Shoten Factory is its beams. A wagoya frame normally rests short posts on horizontal beams to carry the roof; here the beams are made heavy enough to cross the whole span, which clears the floor of posts that would get in the way of work (Agency for Cultural Affairs).

Outside, the iron-sheet walls and plain gabled roof give it the practical face of a workshop, in contrast to the plastered, beam-dressed gable of the house at the front.

Visiting

The Morikyu Shoten Factory stands behind the main house, deeper in the lot from Omotemachi street. No official information was found on interior access, visits or photography, and Akita City's map asks walkers not to enter private houses or grounds.