Kaba Sake Brewery Main Building: A Town House Where Three Centuries of Sake Are Still Brewed
In the snow-cradled town of Hida-Furukawa in northern Gifu Prefecture, behind a long facade of dark wooden lattice, a brewery has been quietly making sake since 1704. The Kaba Sake Brewery Main Building (Kaba Shuzōjō Shuoku) is the principal house of one of Hida's oldest active sake breweries. Rebuilt in 1906 after a great fire swept through Furukawa, the building still functions every day as a working shop, residence, and the public face of a brewery that has now been run by the Kaba family for more than three hundred years. In 2007, it was inscribed on Japan's national register as a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, recognised for the way its long, low frontage anchors the historic streetscape of Ichinomachi Street.
From a 1704 Founding to a Town Reborn in 1906
The Kaba family began brewing in Hida-Furukawa in the first year of the Hōei era (1704), when the founder, Kaba Toyasu, established a shop here. The town's clear groundwater, drawn from the Northern Alps, and the cold, snowy winters of the Hida basin made it an excellent place to make sake, and the family's house grew over the generations into the cluster of brewery buildings that stands today.
The original main house, however, did not survive into the modern age. In 1904 (Meiji 37), a devastating fire tore through the centre of Furukawa, destroying many of the merchant houses along Ichinomachi Street. Two years later, in 1906, the Kaba family rebuilt their main house in a remarkable way: rather than constructing a new building from scratch, they purchased the main residence of the Wada family, located in a nearby village, and had it taken down, transported, and reassembled on the brewery site. Reusing a substantial older townhouse in this fashion was a common practice in Hida, a region renowned for the craftsmanship of its carpenters, but few examples survive today in such complete form.
The result is a building that is technically Meiji-era in date but carries the proportions, joinery, and atmosphere of an earlier rural townhouse — a kind of architectural time capsule that has been continuously inhabited and used as a shop ever since.
Why the Building Was Designated a Cultural Property
On 31 July 2007, the Agency for Cultural Affairs registered the Kaba Sake Brewery Main Building, together with four of the brewery's storehouses, as Registered Tangible Cultural Properties. The designation recognised several distinctive qualities.
First, the sheer scale of the facade is unusual. The building is described in the official record as a large hira-iri townhouse with a frontage of about eleven ken (roughly twenty metres) running along Ichinomachi Street — one of the longest unbroken merchant facades in the historic district. Second, the interior preserves the classical layout of a Hida machiya: the eastern side is a long doma (packed-earth working floor) used for the shop and the entry to the brewing area, while the western side rises onto raised tatami rooms for the family's living quarters. A small setchin (privy) facing the street is integrated into the design, and a covered passageway links the main house to the brewing storehouses behind. Third, the long elevation is articulated by a sequence of finely made wooden lattices (renji-gōshi) of varying patterns and a large hinged ōdo (cart door), which together form a streetscape considered the heart of Furukawa's traditional town.
In short, the building was designated not as a static monument but as a living example of an early-twentieth-century Hida merchant house — one that still serves its original commercial function.
Highlights to Look For When You Visit
Standing across Ichinomachi Street and looking south at the building, several details reward a slow, careful gaze.
The long lattice frontage is the first thing visitors notice. The patterns of the renji-gōshi change subtly along the length of the building, marking the transitions between the shop, the residence, and the entrance. In the Hida winter, when snow piles on the deep eaves and the lanterns are lit at dusk, the lattice glows with the warm light of the shop inside — a scene unchanged in spirit since the early twentieth century.
Step inside, and you are greeted by the cool air of the doma and the faint, sweet smell of fermenting rice from the working brewery behind. The shop counter is set up on the raised floor; bottles of the brewery's flagship Shiramayumi, Yancha, and the sparkling JANPAN line the shelves. The dark roof beams overhead, blackened by more than a century of use, give a vivid sense of the depth of the building.
Just outside, the streetscape itself is part of the experience. The brewery faces the river-canal district known for its white-walled storehouses (shirakabe dozō-gai) and its koi-filled stream. Walking the length of Ichinomachi from the Kaba Brewery toward the canal, you pass another historic brewery, Watanabe Sake Brewery, and a series of registered storehouses that together make up one of the most evocative historic streetscapes in central Japan.
Visitor Information
The Kaba Sake Brewery is a working business, and the main building functions as a shop selling the brewery's full range of sake. Visitors are welcome to enter the shop area during business hours to look at the interior, browse the bottles, and purchase sake to take home. Many visitors also enjoy chilled samples in summer or a warmed cup in winter.
For a deeper experience, the brewery offers a guided tour of the working sake kura by advance reservation. According to public information from Gifu Prefecture, the tour costs 500 yen per person, accepts up to ten people at a time, and is conducted in Japanese only; reservations are required at least one week in advance, and tours are typically not offered during the peak brewing season from October to December. Please confirm the latest schedule and conditions directly with the brewery, as opening hours and tour availability may change with the season.
The main building is best reached on foot from JR Hida-Furukawa Station, a five-to-ten-minute walk through the old town. The station itself is one stop north of Takayama on the JR Takayama Main Line.
What to See Nearby
Hida-Furukawa rewards an unhurried day of walking. Within a few minutes of the brewery you can reach the Setogawa Canal and White-Walled Storehouse District, where carp swim through clear water beside white plaster storehouses from spring through autumn; the carp are moved to a wintering pond from late November to early April. The neighbouring Watanabe Sake Brewery, founded in the early Meiji era and also a Registered Tangible Cultural Property, complements a visit to the Kaba Brewery for those interested in the local sake culture.
The Hida Furukawa Festival Hall preserves the floats of the Furukawa Festival, held every 19–20 April, whose ritual is part of the UNESCO-recognised Yama, Hoko, Yatai float festivals of Japan. Fans of the animated film Your Name (Kimi no Na wa) will also recognise Hida-Furukawa Station and several nearby views from the film.
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Q&A
- Can I enter the building, or is it only viewed from outside?
- The main building functions as the brewery's shop, and visitors are welcome to step inside during business hours to browse and purchase sake. To see the working brewery behind the shop, please reserve a guided kura tour in advance.
- When was the building actually constructed?
- It was rebuilt in 1906 after a great fire destroyed the original Kaba house in 1904. The Kaba family acquired the existing main house of the Wada family in a nearby village and had it dismantled, transported, and reassembled here, which is why the building has the feel of a somewhat older Hida farmhouse.
- Is photography allowed?
- Photographing the exterior from the street is unrestricted and very popular, especially in the snow. Inside the shop, please ask the staff before taking photographs; during a reserved brewery tour, the guide will explain what may and may not be photographed.
- When is the best time of year to visit?
- Each season has its own appeal. Winter brings deep snow on the lattice eaves and is the most atmospheric for the streetscape; spring is timed with the lively Furukawa Festival in April; summer is the season of carp swimming in the nearby canal. Early autumn is comfortable for walking and tasting newly released seasonal sake.
- How does this brewery differ from the more famous breweries in nearby Takayama?
- Hida-Furukawa is a smaller, quieter town than Takayama, and its two historic breweries — Kaba and Watanabe — sit within a few minutes' walk on the same street. Visitors who find Takayama crowded often appreciate the more relaxed pace of Furukawa and the close proximity of the two breweries' Registered Tangible Cultural Property buildings.
Basic Information
| Name | Kaba Sake Brewery Main Building (Kaba Shuzōjō Shuoku) |
|---|---|
| Cultural Property Status | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (Building), registered 31 July 2007 |
| Date | 1906 (Meiji 39), rebuilt after the 1904 Furukawa fire by relocating the former Wada family main house |
| Structure | Wooden, two-story, sheet-metal roof; building area approximately 263 m²; including covered passageway and privy |
| Number of Buildings | 1 (additional brewery storehouses are registered separately) |
| Address | 6-6 Ichinomachi, Furukawa-chō, Hida City, Gifu Prefecture |
| Operator | Kaba Shuzōjō Co., Ltd. (founded 1704) |
| Access | About 5–10 minutes on foot from JR Hida-Furukawa Station (JR Takayama Main Line) |
| Note | An actively operating sake brewery and shop. Brewery tours of the working kura require advance reservation and are conducted in Japanese. |
References
- Kaba Sake Brewery Main Building — Cultural Heritage Online (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://online.bunka.go.jp/heritages/detail/153135
- Kaba Sake Brewery Bunkogura — Cultural Heritage Online (Agency for Cultural Affairs)
- https://bunka.nii.ac.jp/heritages/detail/119607
- National Designated Cultural Properties Database — Kaba Sake Brewery Main Building
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/bsys/maindetails/101/00006532
- Kaba Shuzōjō — Hida City Official Tourism Site "Hida no Tabi"
- https://www.hida-kankou.jp/spot/308
- Kaba Shuzōjō — Gifu Prefecture Official Tourism Site
- https://www.kankou-gifu.jp/spot/detail_3836.html
- Kaba Shuzōjō Official Website (Shiramayumi / Yancha)
- https://www.yancha.com/
- "The Master of a 300-Year Brewery on Hida-Furukawa and Local Sake" — FabCafe Hida
- https://fabcafe.com/jp/magazine/hida/20200919_katari_bar_report/
- Registered Tangible Cultural Properties (Buildings) — Gifu Prefecture Official Website
- https://www.pref.gifu.lg.jp/page/12417.html
Last verified: 2026.05.14