What the Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room Is
The Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room (今井酒造店釜場及び瓶詰場, Imai Shuzōten Kamaba oyobi Binzumeba) in Toriyama-nakachō, Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, is a two-story timber work building of 1908 where rice was washed and steamed and finished sake was bottled, and it became a Registered Tangible Cultural Property on August 1, 2016.
It stands directly east of the Main Storehouse, built right up against it, and covers 155 square meters, about 47 tsubo by Ota City's count. Two jobs at opposite ends of the brewing year took place here: the washing and steaming of rice that begins sake making, and the bottling that ends it.
The First and Last Steps Under One Roof
The building was registered for contributing to the historic landscape. In its description, the Agency for Cultural Affairs notes that the Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room handled both the opening and closing stages of production, that it houses the kamaba, the cauldron station, and that its upper floor gave the brewery workers somewhere to rest. The Agency also remarks on the care taken over its design.
At a kamaba, water is boiled in a large cauldron and the steam cooks the rice. From here the steamed rice was carried next door into the Main and New Storehouses for koji making, the yeast starter and the fermenting mash. Months later, pressed and stored sake came back through the same doors to be bottled and sent out. Start and finish faced each other in a single building.
The cauldron fire connected to the chimney south of the building through an underground flue. The two are registered separately, but they worked as one piece of equipment.
What to Look For
The gable roof reaches out in a deep pent over each gable end. On the gable walls, the beam framing is left exposed as part of the face of the building, a detail the Agency calls out as deliberate ornament. For a workshop, that is more trouble than strictly necessary.
Inside, the southeast corner and the roof space were partitioned off to make the upper floor where the kurabito, the seasonal brewery workers, took their breaks. Ota City adds that the building doubled as their living space. Workers who lived in for the brewing season slept under the same roof as the cauldron station.
Visiting
The interior of the Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room is closed. Imai does not run brewery tours, and there is no published opportunity to see the cauldron station or the workers' loft (checked September 25, 2026).
To find the building from outside, look for the chimney. The two-story structure just north of it is the boiler room. The brewery's website carries a photograph of its exterior.
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Q&A
- What was the Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room used for?
- Washing and steaming rice at the start of brewing, and bottling the finished sake at the end. The upper floor was a rest area for brewery workers.
- When was the Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room built?
- In 1908. It is a two-story timber building with a tiled roof and a building area of 155 square meters.
- How is the Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room connected to the chimney?
- Smoke from the cauldron fire ran through an underground flue to the brick chimney just south of the building.
- Can visitors go inside the Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room?
- No. The interior is closed, and the brewery does not offer tours.
- When was the Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room registered as a cultural property?
- On August 1, 2016, as Registered Tangible Cultural Property No. 10-0334.
Basic Information
| Name | Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room (今井酒造店釜場及び瓶詰場) |
|---|---|
| Location | 746-2 Toriyama Nakacho, Ota City, Gunma Prefecture |
| Designation | Registered Tangible Cultural Property (building), No. 10-0334 |
| Year Designated | Registered August 1, 2016 |
| Quantity | 1 building |
| Dimensions | Two-story timber building, tiled roof, building area 155 square meters |
| Owner | Not listed (the Agency for Cultural Affairs database gives no owner name) |
| Public Access | Interior closed (no brewery tours) |
References
- Agency for Cultural Affairs, Database of National Cultural Properties: Imai Sake Brewery Boiler Room and Bottling Room
- https://kunishitei.bunka.go.jp/heritage/detail/101/00011065
- Ota City: Imai Sake Brewery registered buildings (Japanese)
- https://www.city.ota.gunma.jp/page/4165.html
- Imai Shuzoten official website, Kazekura (Japanese)
- https://www.kaze-kura.com/
Last verified: 2026.09.24
