The Storehouse With Iron Braces
The Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Front Storehouse (南部酒造場旧酒蔵前蔵, also romanised Nanbu Shuzōjō Kyū-sakagura Maegura) is a Meiji-period two-storey earthen-walled brewing store in Motomachi, Ono City, Fukui Prefecture, registered as a national Tangible Cultural Property (Structure) on 20 November 2001. It stands directly south of the family's shop building, the first of the storehouses a visitor meets when moving back from the street.
The Agency for Cultural Affairs gives it a north-south ridge, a gabled roof of pantiles, entry through the gable end, and a plan of nine ken along the ridge by four ken across. Building area is 146 square metres. In practical terms this is a long, narrow box set with its short end toward the shop, the shape a brewer wants when tanks and tubs need to be lined up in a single working row.
One detail in the official description deserves particular attention. The eaves are ringed with hozue, the diagonal struts that push out from the wall to carry the overhang, and at this building they are made of iron. Across the district, and in the neighbouring Great Storehouse on the same lot, those braces are timber. Iron here is a small piece of Meiji industrial technology arriving in a provincial storehouse and being used without ceremony, in the place where a carpenter would otherwise have cut a wooden strut.
Reading the Walls
The exterior carries sasarako shitami, a form of horizontal board siding held by vertical battens whose backs are notched so they seat over the overlapping boards. It is a regional signature in this part of Fukui, and it exists for a reason that becomes obvious in February: Ono sits in heavy snow country, and an earthen wall left bare will soften and wash under repeated wetting. The boards take the weather so the plaster underneath does not have to.
Registration came under number 18-0018, in the thirty-first round of listings, on the criterion of contribution to the historic landscape of the country. The Front Storehouse was one of five buildings on the lot listed the same day, alongside the shop, the Great Storehouse, the West Storehouse and the Rice Storehouse.
The official entry for this building is also where the Agency for Cultural Affairs records the family's trade name, noting that the Nambu house has run a brewery under the name Chagiya since the Meiji era. The brewery's own history writes the older name as Chanokiya and traces it back to 1733, when the family dealt in metalware as a supplier to the Ono domain. The switch to sake is dated by the company to 1901, following the fires that repeatedly burned through the town. The two spellings of the shop name have not been reconciled between the sources, and the article notes them as they stand.
The word kyu, meaning former, sits in the registered name of this building and of the Great Storehouse. It marks the fact that brewing later moved to newer plant; the company records a reinforced concrete brewhouse, the Kaho-gura, completed in 1963. The Meiji and Taisho storehouses stayed, which is why they were available to be registered nearly four decades later.
What a Visitor Can Actually See
Expectations should be set honestly. The Front Storehouse is a working brewery building on private ground, and no regular interior tour is advertised. What a visitor sees is the exterior, and how much of it depends on where they stand: the storehouses sit behind and south of the shop, so glimpses come from the surrounding streets rather than from a single vantage point.
The practical route is to go into the Hanagaki retail shop, which occupies the registered shop building at the north end of the lot, open 9:00 to 17:00 and generally closed on Wednesdays, with exceptions during holidays and busy months, and from 31 December to 5 January. Staff there can say what is currently visible, and what is happening on site. Buying a bottle of the house label is the most direct way to connect the buildings to what they were built to produce.
Photography from the public street is unrestricted. Do not enter the yard for a better angle.
Access is a ten-minute walk from JR Echizen-Ono Station on the Etsumi-Hoku Line, with the Motomachi car park nearby. Visitors in 2026 should know that Shichiken-dori is being resurfaced and that the morning market normally held on it has moved temporarily to the Jokamachi Higashi open space from 1 June until late October.
Winter changes the reading of this building more than any other season. Snow loads the gable, the iron braces stand dark against a white wall, and the reason for boarding the lower walls stops being an academic point.
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Q&A
- Can visitors go inside the Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Front Storehouse?
- No regular interior access is offered. The storehouse belongs to a working brewery on private land. The exterior can be seen from surrounding streets, and the Hanagaki retail shop in the registered shop building at the north end of the lot is open to the public.
- What makes the Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Front Storehouse unusual?
- The diagonal eaves braces, hozue, are iron rather than wood. The Agency for Cultural Affairs singles this out as the building's distinguishing feature, since the same element on comparable storehouses in the district, including the Great Storehouse on this lot, is timber.
- How large is the Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Front Storehouse?
- One building of 146 square metres, two storeys, earthen-walled construction with a pantile gable roof. The plan measures nine ken along the ridge by four ken across, one ken being roughly 1.8 metres, with the ridge running north to south.
- When was the Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Front Storehouse registered?
- Registration was made on 20 November 2001, with public notice on 4 December 2001, in the thirty-first round. The registration number is 18-0018 and the criterion applied was contribution to the historic landscape of the country.
- Why is the Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Front Storehouse called "former"?
- Brewing later shifted to newer facilities; the company records a reinforced concrete brewhouse completed in 1963. The Meiji-era storehouse was kept rather than cleared, and the registered name preserves the distinction between old and current plant.
- Where exactly does the Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Front Storehouse stand on the site?
- South of the shop building that fronts Shichiken-dori. Further south again, with its ridge set at right angles, is the Great Storehouse. The West Storehouse and Rice Storehouse occupy the western part of the plot.
Basic Information
| Name | Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Front Storehouse (南部酒造場旧酒蔵前蔵) |
|---|---|
| Location | Motomachi 6-9 to 6-10, Ono City, Fukui Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Structure); registration number 18-0018; criterion: contribution to the historic landscape of the country |
| Year Designated | Registered 20 November 2001; public notice 4 December 2001 (31st round) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Earthen-walled construction, two storeys, tile roof; building area 146 square metres; nine ken along the ridge by four ken across, north-south ridge, gable entry |
| Owner | Nambu Shuzojo Co., Ltd. (private; the Agency for Cultural Affairs database leaves the owner field unpublished) |
| Public Access | Interior closed to the public. Exterior visible from surrounding streets. The Hanagaki retail shop on the same lot is open 9:00 to 17:00, generally closed Wednesdays and 31 December to 5 January. |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs — National Cultural Properties Database: Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Front Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00002537
- Agency for Cultural Affairs — National Cultural Properties Database: Nambu Shuzojo Former Sake Brewery Great Storehouse
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00002538
- Hanagaki (Nambu Shuzojo) — Company History
- https://www.hanagaki.co.jp/about/history
- Hanagaki (Nambu Shuzojo) — Company Profile
- https://www.hanagaki.co.jp/about/company/outline
- Fukui Prefecture Tourism Federation — Nambu Shuzojo
- https://www.fuku-e.com/spot/detail_7439.html
Last verified: 2026.08.05