What the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse Is
The Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse (ヤマモ味噌醤油醸造元茂助蔵及び妙見蔵), formerly a residential storehouse and a pickle storehouse, is a two-storey Dozo-zukuri storehouse of 1883 at the centre of a miso and soy sauce brewery in Iwasaki, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture, and became Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 3 December 2024. It covers 213 square metres, has a sheet-metal roof and stands entirely inside an outer protective shelter. It is the oldest of the brewery's eight listed buildings.
Two names, one building. On the ground floor the west side is an earth-floored former pickle store and the east side a living area with boarded and tatami floors, so a single storehouse held both preserved food and people. The order of the names suggests that the Mosuke Storehouse is the former living quarters and the Myoken Storehouse the former pickle store, though no primary source spells this out.
The brewery's chronology records that the founder, Mosuke Takahashi, built a residential storehouse in 1883, sixteen years after he began making miso. The Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse carries his name.
Why It Was Listed
The Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse was listed as a model of design, a criterion given to just two of the eight (the other is the Heisuke Storehouse). The Agency for Cultural Affairs credits it to local carpenters with long experience of storehouse building.
The walls are Shikkui lime plaster over a plinth of Innai stone, a tuff quarried at Innai in the south of Yuzawa, cut into blocks and given moulded, stepped edges. White plaster above, carved local stone below.
A storehouse exists to protect things. This one was given boarded and tatami rooms on one side and a pickle store on the other, on the same ground floor. Storing and living under one fire-resistant roof, its plan records how the brewing family lived as well as how it built.
What to Look For
The Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse is gabled, in Kirizuma-zukuri form, and entered from the gable end, Tsumairi. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database has a photograph of the Mosuke Storehouse from the south. The stone plinth runs all the way round beneath the white wall, and the moulded edges of the blocks cast small shadows at its foot.
The doorway is hung with a kakegonuri door, the stepped, interlocking plaster door used to keep fire out of a storehouse, the same device found on the Heisuke Storehouse. Built eleven years apart, the two storehouses share the same defence.
Upstairs the roof frame is left exposed, and the database includes a photograph of it. The building has kept its 1883 form inside its shelter; in snow country an outer covering of this kind protects the lime plaster from rain and snow.
Visiting
The Myoken Storehouse is part of the brewery's evening dinner tour, a course of about three hours that must be booked at least three days ahead by two or more people (checked on the official site, 25 September 2026). The daytime factory tour route does not list the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse.
No public opening of the Mosuke Storehouse living quarters has been announced, and the building, at the centre of the plot, cannot be seen from the old Ushu Kaido. Photography is generally allowed on tours, though some spots are off limits.
Directions to the site and the general conditions for visiting are set out on the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery page.
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Q&A
- When was the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse built?
- In 1883. The brewery's chronology says the founder, Mosuke Takahashi, built it as a residential storehouse; it is the oldest of the eight listed buildings.
- Is the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse two buildings?
- One. On the ground floor the west side is a former earth-floored pickle store and the east side a living area with boarded and tatami floors, hence the two names.
- Can I go inside the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse?
- The Myoken Storehouse is included in the brewery's dinner tour (at least two people, booked three days ahead). No public opening of the Mosuke Storehouse living quarters has been announced (checked 25 September 2026).
- What is the stone at the base of the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse?
- Innai stone, a tuff from Innai in Yuzawa, cut into blocks with moulded, stepped edges.
- Why is the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse a Registered Tangible Cultural Property?
- It was listed as a model of design, recognising the skill of local carpenters experienced in storehouse building.
Basic Information
| Name | Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse (Former Living Quarters Storehouse and Former Pickle Storehouse) (ヤマモ味噌醤油醸造元茂助蔵及び妙見蔵（旧居住蔵及び旧漬物蔵）) |
|---|---|
| Location | 124 Iwasaki, Yuzawa City, Akita Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure), register no. 05-0253 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2024/12/03 (Reiwa 6) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Dozo-zukuri, 2 storeys, sheet-metal roof, building area 213 square metres, with protective shelter |
| Owner | Private |
| Public Access | Myoken Storehouse on the dinner tour (booking required). Mosuke Storehouse living area closed. |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewery Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse (Former Living Quarters Storehouse and Former Pickle Storehouse)
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00015125
- 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: Mosuke Storehouse and Myoken Storehouse
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/620559
- YAMAMO / TAKAMO & Corp.: Company
- https://yamamo1867.com/company/
- YAMAMO / TAKAMO & Corp.: Restaurant and Tour
- https://yamamo1867.com/plan/
Last verified: 2026.09.25
