Ryozeki Sake Brewery

The House Behind the Ryozeki Label

Ryozeki Sake Brewery (両関酒造, Ryōzeki Shuzō) is a sake brewery in Maemori, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture, founded in 1874, and five of its buildings, the Main Building and the No. 1 to No. 4 Storehouses, were listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on December 20, 1996.

The name is sometimes misread as "Ryoseki"; the brewery and the national register both give it as Ryōzeki. According to Yuzawa City, Ryozeki Sake Brewery won first prizes at the national sake competitions of the late Meiji and Taisho years, and its Ryozeki label carried the reputation of Akita sake across Japan. The brewery says the name likens its sake to the two famous swords, Masamune of the east and Munechika of the west, and to a sumo wrestler holding the rank of ozeki on both the east and west sides at once: one brand reigning over the whole country.

Yuzawa is one of the snowiest towns in Akita. Keep that in mind here, because much of what looks unusual about these buildings is a response to winter.

Listed on the First Day of the Registration System

Japan's system of Registered Tangible Cultural Properties began in 1996, and the five Ryozeki Sake Brewery buildings were part of its very first round of registrations. Their registration numbers run in sequence: 05-0001 for the Main Building, then 05-0002 to 05-0005 for the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and No. 4 Storehouses. The prefix 05 stands for Akita, so the Main Building holds registration number 1 for the prefecture. Yuzawa City describes the group as among the first buildings registered anywhere in Japan.

All five were registered under the same criterion, that they contribute to the historic landscape of the nation, and all are owned by Ryozeki Shuzo Co., Ltd.

Three Decades of Building, 1892 to 1923

The Ryozeki buildings went up one at a time. Putting the Agency for Cultural Affairs records beside Yuzawa City's summary gives this sequence:

• No. 1 Storehouse, 1892, dated by its ridge tablet and the oldest building at the brewery
• No. 2 Storehouse, 1908, the largest, more than 56 meters long
• No. 3 Storehouse, undated because no ridge tablet survives; the Agency places it in the early Taisho period, the city between late Meiji and Taisho
• No. 4 Storehouse, 1916, built from the start for storing sake
• Main Building, 1923, a two-story timber office and family residence

Yuzawa City records that the four storehouses were built under the eighth head of the family, Ito Niemon, with Takaku Santaro as master carpenter. The Main Building followed in what the Agency calls the brewery's heyday.

Each storehouse is a two-story earthen building in the Dozo-zukuri manner, with both roof and walls finished in Shikkui lime plaster, and the whole set sits under a large outer roof. The Agency explains that the outer roof helps keep the storehouses warm and makes snow clearance easier. It is a direct answer to the two problems a brewer in snow country faces every winter.

Why Ryozeki Sake Brewery Matters

Yuzawa City points to the roof framing. Every one of the Ryozeki storehouses uses Wagoya, the traditional Japanese roof frame, at a time when many warehouses and factories were adopting imported Yōgoya trusses. Ryozeki kept building large storehouses with local methods rather than bringing in outside technology, and the city presents this as a brewery that modernized on its own terms.

For the Main Building, the Agency highlights a design that projects the standing of an old firm and notes that it has become a symbol of Yuzawa as a sake town.

One point needs care. The Agency's entry for the No. 3 Storehouse describes the outer roofs as Western-style trusses, while the city, and the Agency's own entry for the No. 4 Storehouse, describe wagoya. The most likely reading is that the two statements refer to different parts, the outer covering roof on one hand and the framing of the earthen storehouses on the other, but no source says so explicitly.

Visiting Ryozeki Sake Brewery and Getting There

Ryozeki Sake Brewery is a working brewery, and all five listed buildings are still in use. Yuzawa City says the four storehouses now serve entirely as storage; the Yuzawa City Tourism and Products Association describes them as used for both brewing and storage.

The part regularly open to the public is the shop inside the brewery building. The brewery lists its hours as 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, closed on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays, the Obon holiday and the New Year period. Groups are asked to call ahead.

Brewery tours, the only way to see inside the buildings, were suspended as of September 28, 2026. Under normal conditions the brewery takes tours on weekdays, with start times from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., booked at least 3 days ahead. A tour lasts about 30 minutes, is free and takes up to 20 people. No tours run during the brewing season, from November to April each year, and for hygiene reasons visitors are not taken into the fermentation storehouse; the route covers only some equipment and parts of the buildings. Ask the brewery directly about when tours will resume.

The brewery is about 20 minutes on foot from JR Yuzawa Station on the Ou Main Line, or about 3 minutes by car from the Yuzawa Interchange. There is parking, including space for large vehicles.