A Postwar Storehouse at the Southern End
The Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse (鈴木酒造店仕込蔵, Suzuki Shuzōten Shikomigura) in Nagano, Daisen City, Akita Prefecture, is a sake brewing hall built in 1965 at a working brewery, and became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 3 April 2020. It is a single-storey Dozo-zukuri building with a metal-sheet roof, covering 178 square metres, and was renovated in 2003.
It stands at the centre of the southern edge of the site, joined on the north to the middle storehouse, and closes the chain of buildings that runs south from the main house. It is a large storehouse, about 22 metres long and about 8 metres wide. The brewery's chronology records the completion in 1965 of the "Showa storehouse (brewing storehouse)", a name still used for it at Suzuki Sake Brewery.
Why It Was Registered
The Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse was registered as a building that contributes to the historic landscape. It is the youngest of the seven buildings at Suzuki Sake Brewery, a postwar building listed alongside storehouses from the Meiji and Taisho periods.
Its structure shows its age. The wall frame uses the local traditional method of running many Nuki tie-beams through the posts. The roof, by contrast, is carried on a Yōgoya, a Western-style frame built as a King post truss, spanning the width in triangles. Traditional below, imported above.
The brewery's chronology marks 1965 as the year the sake industry entered a period of reorganisation; the brewing storehouse was completed that same year.
Where Two Eras Meet
From outside, the Suzuki Sake Brewery brewing storehouse looks like the older storehouses: white walls, earthen construction. Built in 1965, it lines up with its predecessors and holds the southern end of the row.
If you get inside, look up. The central king post and its diagonals form triangles that sit on traditional posts threaded with nuki. Within one building, the walls and roof belong to different traditions.
At about 22 metres by about 8 metres, it is among the larger storehouses on the site, the kind of space a brewery needed as production modernised.
Visiting
The Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse is part of a working brewery and cannot be entered freely. The storehouses are shown on Suzuki Sake Brewery's paid, reservation-only tour, but the official description does not say which ones. Check with the guide about photography.
Tour times, fees and directions are on the Suzuki Sake Brewery page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Akita
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse
- [ Kakunodate Samurai District & Lake Tazawa Tours ]
Q&A
- When was the Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse built?
- In 1965. It was renovated in 2003 and registered as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 3 April 2020.
- What is special about the structure of the Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse?
- It pairs a traditional wall frame threaded with nuki tie-beams with a Western-style king post truss roof.
- How large is the Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse?
- About 22 metres long and about 8 metres wide, with a building area of 178 square metres.
- Can I go inside the Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse?
- The brewery's paid tour, booked in advance, takes visitors into its storehouses; ask when booking whether this one is included.
- Where is the Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse and how do I get there?
- It is inside the Suzuki Sake Brewery compound in Nagano, Daisen City, Akita Prefecture. It stands at the centre of the southern edge of the site. Ugo-Nagano Station on the JR Tazawako Line is about a 10-minute walk away.
Basic Information
| Name | Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse (鈴木酒造店仕込蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 9 Futsukamachi, Nagano, Daisen City, Akita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building) |
| Year Designated | Registered 2020/4/3 (Reiwa 2) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, single-storey; metal-sheet roof; building area 178 square metres |
| Owner | Suzuki Sake Brewery Partnership (合名会社鈴木酒造店) |
| Public Access | Working brewery; ask when booking the paid tour whether it is included |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Suzuki Sake Brewery Brewing Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00013214
- Hideyoshi, Suzuki Sake Brewery: Brewery Tours
- https://www.hideyoshi.co.jp/tour/
- Hideyoshi, Suzuki Sake Brewery: History
- https://www.hideyoshi.co.jp/history/
- Daisen City: Nationally Designated and Registered Cultural Properties
- https://www.city.daisen.lg.jp/archive/contents-1884
Last verified: 2026.09.26
