Iinuma Honke Meiji Storehouse

The Big Storehouse in the North-East Corner

Iinuma Honke Meiji Storehouse is a mid-Meiji brewing storehouse in the Umabashi district of Shisui, Chiba Prefecture, listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 27 October 2017.

It occupies the north-east corner of the estate and faces south. Built in the Dozo-zukuri thick-plaster technique, it has 2 storeys with a single-storey section, a steel-plate roof and a floor area of 291 square metres. At 16 bays along the ridge by 8 across it is the largest of the six listed buildings at Iinuma Honke. The Agency for Cultural Affairs database dates it between 1883 and 1897, with a remodelling between 1955 and 1964.

Chiba Prefecture's board of education records that Iinuma Honke Meiji Storehouse was the heart of the brewing operation when it went up. Its name simply marks the era of its construction.

Listed as a Model of Design

Iinuma Honke Meiji Storehouse was listed under the criterion for structures that serve as a model of design. The main house and the front storehouse on the same site were listed for their contribution to the historic landscape, so this building was judged on its construction rather than its setting.

The reason is inside. The interior is one undivided volume, and along the line of the main posts stand round logs about 36 centimetres in diameter, one every 2 bays. On the upper floor those posts carry beams assembled in two tiers. Fermentation vats, rice, water and people all had to move through the space, and clearing the floor of posts on that scale demands exactly this kind of heavy timber and stacked framing.

An inspection room projects from the south front. Keeping a working requirement of sake production legible in the shape of the building was also cited in the listing.

What to Look For

Length registers first. 16 bays runs to roughly 29 metres, and walking the south side takes a while, with the gabled roof carrying on the whole way. The steel plate has none of the heaviness of tile, so the pale wall and the roof plane play against each other.

If you get inside, look at the posts and beams. A log 36 centimetres across is about as much as outstretched arms can manage, and one stands every 2 bays. From the upper floor the two tiers of beams sitting on those posts are close overhead.

Iinuma Honke Meiji Storehouse now serves as an event hall. A reinforced concrete brewhouse took over production in 1956, and because the old storehouse lost its job it was never repeatedly rebuilt. Redundancy is what preserved the frame.

Visiting

There are two ways into Iinuma Honke Meiji Storehouse. One is the paid brewery tour, where a member of the brewing staff brings the group through. The other is an event day, since the building serves as a hall and opens to whoever has come for the event.

Tour places are reserved through the brewery's website or on 043-496-1001. Tour dates appear on the website and event dates in its news listings. Photography rules are not published, so ask when booking or on arrival. Directions to the estate and opening hours are set out on the Iinuma Honke page.