The Brewery's Own Sake Counter
Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store (玉泉堂酒造小売り場, Gyokusendō Shuzō Kōriba) is a two-storey timber liquor shop built in 1924 in Takada, Yoro Town, Gifu Prefecture, and was listed as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on 25 April 2014. It was remodelled in the mid-Showa period, between 1946 and 1965.
It stands immediately east of the Shop and Main House on the same road, 5.8 metres wide with a footprint of 78 square metres. Beside the main house, with its 19 metres of frontage, it looks modest. Its value lies in exactly that modesty: this is the counter where a country brewery sold its own sake to the neighbourhood.
Why It Was Registered
The Retail Store was registered for its contribution to the historic streetscape, and the Agency for Cultural Affairs describes it as a building that shows what liquor retailing looked like before the war. The brewery gave its shop counter a building of its own, separate from both the house and the brewhouses.
The layout was simple and practical. The northern half of the ground floor, facing the street, was the shop; the southern half, at the back, was a storeroom.
Liquor retailing in Japan only became a licensed trade in 1938, so the Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store predates that system. It can be read as a survival of the older habit of brewers selling straight over their own counter.
What to Look For
Look first at the upper floor. Its black plaster matches the upper floor of the main house next door, a Taisho-era addition made to sit comfortably beside a Meiji building, and the two together form one unbroken frontage.
The frame is hidden, but the Agency's notes describe it. The posts stand every half bay, about 0.9 metres apart, which is unusually close, and diagonal corner braces called hiuchibari keep the frame square. It is a small building with a frame as solid as its larger neighbour's.
Remember the post-war remodelling as well: the shopfront you see today is not quite the 1924 original. The Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store has kept changing along with the way sake is sold.
Visiting
The interior of the Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store is not open to the public, and the brewery's website says nothing about whether it is still used as a shop (checked 24 September 2026).
The front can be seen from the road. It adjoins the east end of the main house, so standing across the street lets you take in both buildings and see how their black plaster upper floors line up. Please photograph from the public road only.
Directions and visiting conditions for the brewery as a whole are on the Gyokusendo Sake Brewery page.
- 📍 Plan Your Visit to Gifu
- Find tours, activities & transport passes near Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store
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Q&A
- When was the Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store built?
- In 1924. It was remodelled in the mid-Showa period, between 1946 and 1965.
- Can you see inside the Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store?
- No. The interior is closed; only the street front can be seen from the public road.
- How was the ground floor of the Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store used?
- The northern, street-side half was the shop and the southern half was a storeroom.
- How does the Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store relate to the main house?
- It stands directly east of the Shop and Main House, and its upper front is finished in the same black plaster so that the two read as one street wall.
- When was the Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store registered?
- On 25 April 2014, as registration no. 21-0224, on the same day as the brewery's other six buildings.
Basic Information
| Name | Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store (Gyokusendō Shuzō Kōriba) |
|---|---|
| Location | 126 Takada Aza-Machi, Yoro-cho, Yoro-gun, Gifu Prefecture, and other lots |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), registration no. 21-0224 |
| Year Designated | Registered 2014/4/25 (Heisei 26) |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Timber, 2 storeys, tiled roof, building area 78 square metres, frontage 5.8 metres |
| Owner | Gyokusendo Shuzo Co., Ltd. |
| Public Access | Interior closed; exterior visible from the public road |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs database: Gyokusendo Sake Brewery Retail Store
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00009959
- Gifu Prefecture: Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Buildings)
- https://www.pref.gifu.lg.jp/page/12417.html
- National Tax Agency: When Liquor Tax Supported the Nation (tax archives exhibition)
- https://www.nta.go.jp/about/organization/ntc/sozei/tokubetsu/h22shiryoukan/01.htm
- Gyokusendo Shuzo official website
- https://www.gyokusendo.jp/
Last verified: 2026.09.24
