What the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse Is
The Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse (ヤマモ味噌醤油醸造元仕込蔵, Shikomi-gura) is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri brewing storehouse built between 1883 and 1897, in the middle Meiji era, in the northwest of a miso and soy sauce brewery in Iwasaki, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture, and became Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 3 December 2024. Koji is grown and new batches are started here. It covers 235 square metres, has a sheet-metal roof and a brick chimney.
Shikomi, starting a batch, means mixing steamed soybeans or rice with koji mould and salt to set fermentation going. For both miso and soy sauce the recipe is fixed at this stage. The building is where the brewery's process begins.
The Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse is a production building from the Meiji decades when the family's storehouses were being completed. The vinegar storehouse stands to its west, and the workshop at the centre of the site links it to the rest of the brewery.
Why It Was Listed
It was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape; the Agency for Cultural Affairs notes how this long storehouse shapes the look of the brewery. At 235 square metres it is the largest two-storey building of the eight.
The storehouse is gabled, in Kirizuma-zukuri form, and entered on its long side, Hirairi. The walls are Shikkui lime plaster, and a brick chimney rises at the northeast corner, one red vertical against a long white wall.
Inside there is a single room on each floor, with an earth floor, Doma, below and boards above. The roof is carried on heavy beams stacked in three tiers that support the purlins and ridge, a way of spanning a wide floor with few posts.
What to Look For
Inside the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse is a muro, a semi-automatic koji-making chamber built of wood. Akita's fermentation tourism guide says it is kept at 45°C and 60 percent humidity, and that brewers go inside it to tend the koji for three days and nights. How quickly the mould spreads over steamed grain depends on temperature and humidity, so the work here is above all about controlling the environment.
Upstairs, look up at the roof frame: heavy beams in three tiers with the purlins and ridge resting on top. The size of the timbers and the way they are stacked are what keep the wide floor clear. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database holds a photograph of this frame and another of the west side with the chimney.
Outside, find the northeast corner, where the brick chimney runs up beside the storehouse: plaster and brick side by side in one building.
Visiting
You can go inside the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse on the brewery's factory tour, whose published route includes the brewing storehouse; it is here that visitors taste miso aged for different lengths of time (checked 25 September 2026). Tours last about an hour and must be booked by the day before.
Because koji is actually made here, visitors are asked not to eat natto on the morning of the tour; the brewery explains that it could upset the microbial ecosystem of the building. Photography is generally allowed during the tour, though some spots are off limits. The building stands at the back of the site and cannot be seen from the old Ushu Kaido.
Directions to the site and the general conditions for visiting are set out on the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Akita
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse
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Q&A
- When was the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse built?
- In the middle Meiji era, between 1883 and 1897.
- What happens in the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse?
- Koji is grown and batches are started. A wooden semi-automatic koji chamber, the muro, is kept at 45°C and 60 percent humidity for three days and nights.
- Can I go inside the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse?
- Yes, on the brewery's factory tour, which lasts about an hour and must be booked by the day before. The miso tasting takes place here (checked 25 September 2026).
- Is there anything to know before visiting the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse?
- Visitors are asked not to eat natto on the morning of the tour, because it could upset the microbes that make the koji.
- Why is the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was listed for its contribution to the historic landscape: the long storehouse shapes the look of the brewery.
Basic Information
| Name | Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse (ヤマモ味噌醤油醸造元仕込蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | 124 Iwasaki, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register no. 05-0255 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2024/12/03 (Reiwa 6) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, 2 storeys, sheet-metal roof, building area 235 square metres, with chimney |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Interior on the factory tour (booking required). Not visible from the street. |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00015127
- Agency for Cultural Affairs: Council for Cultural Affairs recommendations, 19 July 2024
- https://www.bunka.go.jp/koho_hodo_oshirase/hodohappyo/pdf/94084201_01.pdf
- Yuzawa City: Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Shop and Main House and seven other buildings
- https://www.city-yuzawa.jp/site/bunkazai/6175.html
- Cultural Heritage Online: Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Brewing Storehouse
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/566831
- YAMAMO / TAKAMO & Corp.: Restaurant and Tour
- https://yamamo1867.com/plan/
- Akita Fermentation Tourism: Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery
- https://hakko.akita-kenmin.jp/kamoshidokoro/424
Last verified: 2026.09.25
